The defense minister of Pakistan promises to attack terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan.

Experts have rejected a strike because they believe it would undermine regional peace.

Pakistan has once more warned the Afghan Taliban that if Kabul’s de facto government cannot control anti-Pakistan forces, it will attack terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan.

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Defense Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that Pakistan would take action against the terrorists in his most recent interview with Voice of America.

Asif claims that on his most recent trip to Kabul in February, he persuaded the Taliban’s top officials that if they did not stop terrorists from using Afghan soil to plot and carry out attacks against Pakistan, Pakistan would retaliate. He replied, “If this is not done, then we will have to take some action. ‘We [Pakistan] cannot tolerate this condition for long, hence terrorists in Afghanistan will have to be attacked,’ the statement read.

Mohammed Suhail Shaheen, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s designated permanent representative to the UN and the head of the emirate’s Doha-based Political Office, responded to the defense minister of Pakistan by telling The Media Line that using force would violate the emirate’s territorial sovereignty and worsen the current situation.
Since Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighboring Islamic nations, they both have open diplomatic channels they may utilize to resolve disputes and debate the complaints or claims made by either side, Shaheen continued. “From the first day, we were strongly convinced of mutual negotiations,” she said.

Terrorist assaults in Pakistan are on the rise thanks to the Taliban
Since the Afghan Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, there have been an increase in terror attacks in Pakistan, with the majority of these assaults being claimed by the illegal Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is thought to be the Afghan Taliban’s ideological offshoot and ally. Over the past 14 years, the TTP and its affiliated terror organizations have carried out suicide assaults in Pakistan, killing more than 70,000 Pakistanis. Islamabad is adamant that the TTP’s proscribed leadership is residing in Afghanistan and taking advantage of the Afghan Taliban’s hospitality.

Days after the country’s National Security Committee ordered all-encompassing action against the terrorists, the Pakistani defense minister made his announcement. According to a senior intelligence source headquartered in Islamabad, “We have irrefutable evidence that TTP has created a nexus with ISKP and engaged theBaloch terrorist organizations to make a bigger terror syndicate in the region.” ISKP stands for the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a branch of the terrorist organization that operates in South and Central Asia. About 5 million Baloch people live in Pakistan and the country’s surrounding regions, including Iran and Afghanistan. Balochistan is a province of Pakistan. Since at least 2004, Baloch ethnonationalist organizations like the Balochistan Liberation Army have been fighting for the creation of a Baloch homeland in the region that currently spans Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. According to the senior intelligence officer who asked to remain anonymous, “Intelligenceassessments also predict that the regional countries such as Iran and China will not bespared from the threat of a newly emerging nexus between TTP and ISKP.”

The official explained to The Media Line that Pakistan had been pressing Kabul to impose its control over all of Afghan territory, including preventing the TTP from utilizing Afghan territory as a base for strikes against Pakistan and conducting operations against the organization.

Additionally, the Afghan leadership has been informed of the evidence and plans of the TTP-ISKP, which has allowed the Afghan forces to conduct some fruitful intelligence-based operations, the official continued.

An in-camera meeting on the state of national security was held on Friday in the National Assembly Hall, according to state-run radio station Radio Pakistan. The conference was attended by the National Assembly, federal ministries, advisers, and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The lawmakers received a thorough briefing from the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir, Director-General Inter-Services ISI Intelligence Lt. Gen. Nadeem Anjum, and Director-General Military Operations Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza on the recent resurgence of TTP terror activity and the most recent security challenges in the entire nation.Munir oversaw the Corps Commanders’ Conference in the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Friday after the closed-door meeting. The field and administrative leadership of the army thoroughly examined all current risks to national security interests.

In a statement, the Armed Forces Media Wing stated that “the meeting reviewed the domestic and regional environment, including external and internal security challenges Pakistan confronts.”

According to the statement, the government-approved forum’s targeted counterterrorism campaign against terrorists will eliminate the “permissive factors of terrorism, extremism, and instability in the country.”

The Media Line talked to a number of specialists regarding the remarks made by the Pakistani defense minister and the beginning of a comprehensive operation to end terrorism. The Media Line was informed by retired Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Zeeshan, director-general of the Center for Peace, Security and Development Studies in Islamabad, that the “Pakistani defense minister’s statement may not be well calibrated, because a few weeks ago a high-level Pakistani delegation led by the same defense minister visited Kabul, and they were assured that the TTP would not be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan.”

In his statement, Zeeshan noted that this is “a complex issue that needs to be understood, that there are long-standing relations between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban; both are ideological brothers, and both fought side by side the US-led invasion in Afghanistan, so these historical relations cannot be terminated at once.”

“At this point, using diplomatic brinksmanship by making a harsh comment wasn’t the best course of action. Such words could undermine the ongoing attempts at cross-border peace, therefore Islamabad needs to understand that, Zeeshan said. The TTP’s fundraising in the guise of’so-called jihad’ must be stopped, and their actions on Afghan soil must be limited, by Afghan authorities. Since the TTP does not now enjoy widespread popular support, Pakistan should continue operations against the group along the border on its side, and intelligence-based operations are essential in this regard.

Middle East and international security expert Adrian Calamel, a former instructor of world and Middle Eastern history at the Finger Lakes Community College of the State University of New York, holds that “any kinetic action taken by Pakistan inside Afghanistan can hurt as long as they are hitting the right targets.”

Calamel added to The Media Line, “For more than 20 years, the state of Pakistan and the TTP provided a safe haven and assistance for the Afghan Taliban. They currently have authority over Afghanistan and are logical allies with the TTP. The question is where the Taliban try to expand since their ideology is expansionist and always will be, he continued. Pakistan appears like an obvious choice when considering the landscape’s fitness.

The US has declared that it would support Pakistan in any counterterrorism action conducted on Afghani soil. Calamel claims that the US State Department is “totally risk averse” and would rather that Pakistan carry out the task with potential assistance from US intelligence. However, following the American pullout, Calamel questions the reliability of US intelligence inside the nation. Additionally, Calamel claims that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is likely thinking about “hostage diplomacy” because at least 175 Americans are still held captive by the Taliban, despite what Blinken claimed on March 30 during a congressional hearing.

According to Ali Maisam Nazary, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan’s director of foreign affairs, “the security and stability concerns we are facing today in Afghanistan and the region had been periodically communicated to Pakistan,” The Taliban’s return was explicitly stated to cause instability for everyone, including Pakistan.

Nazary added to The Media Line that “despite its support and assistance to the Afghan Taliban for more than 20 years, at this time Pakistan is facing a serious threat from terrorists supported by the Taliban.”

He highlighted that “to counter the growing influence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, Pakistan must change its overall policy toward the Taliban and start a serious dialogue with the Afghan Democratic Forces, including national resistance forces.”

According to Andy Vermaut, president of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue and a counter-extremism expert based in Brussels, “any strike on Afghan land will damage relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Kabul will undoubtedly retaliate, which might result in conflict rather than discussion.”In addition, such a strike would spark an increase in terror incidents across the nation, raising concerns about the potential loss of numerous lives. I am concerned about that as a human rights advocate,” he continued.Vermaut stated that “Pakistan should basically drill to ensure that it acts fairly and does everything possible to prevent people from getting hurt, but we all know the reality of war.”

“Dialogues between Pakistan and Afghanistan are necessary to avert collateral damage and human rights violations; this will help them figure out a more effective approach to stop cross-border terrorism. The last resort should always be armed action, said Vermaut. The Media Line was informed by Naseeb Ullah Shah, an analyst stationed in Landi Kotal, a town close to the important Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing of Torkham, that “Pakistan’s possible strikes on Afghan soil will adversely affect the peace and stability in the already war-torn region.”

“The local population is most impacted when a terrorist attack happens or when actions are taken against terrorists. The dispute should be settled through ongoing negotiations between Kabul and Islamabad, not by cross-border military operations, he said.

At the Pak-Afghan International Border in South Waziristan, a Pakistan Army Special Services Group killed eight TTP insurgents on Saturday night. The Armed troops Media Wing reported that “during the exchange of fire, two members of the elite forces lost their lives.”