Pakistan-Taliban showdown risks becoming a protracted war of attrition
With positions entrenched, mediation efforts by regional powers are unlikely to deliver a swift breakthrough, observers say
Islamabad has vowed to keep striking military targets inside Afghanistan until the Taliban takes action against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups Pakistan says operate from Afghan soil.
Pakistani warplanes and drones struck command-and-control centres, logistical infrastructure and munitions dumps in eastern Afghanistan as dawn broke on Saturday, a day after the military described the fighting as “open war” between the former allies.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the army’s chief spokesman, had warned the campaign would not end until “our objectives are met”.
Pakistani ground forces, supported by artillery and tanks, have been destroying Afghan military posts in border areas Islamabad says are vulnerable to infiltration by the TTP and other insurgent groups operating from Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover.
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Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghanistan’s Taliban after striking Kabul and Kandahar
According to a social media post by Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, air strikes against 37 sites inside Afghanistan were carried out up to 9am on Saturday, while 104 Afghan Taliban posts had been destroyed and 22 others captured.