ISLAMABAD/KABUL: As Pakistan and Afghanistan said Wednesday they were pausing their military operations against each other for Eidul Fitr, Pakistani’s military spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that militant elements were being harboured in government facilities in Afghanistan under Taliban patronage.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban maintain links with various terrorist groups, including individuals associated with the family of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
He said this conflict has been imposed on Pakistan by terrorist groups and their external handlers, adding, “The Afghan Taliban regime is a terrorist entity that has taken control of the country.” He said that some militant groups targeting Pakistan were sponsored and funded by India.
Rejecting claims by the Afghan authorities regarding civilian casualties in recent Pakistani strikes, Lt Gen Chaudhry said the operations specifically targeted militant infrastructure, including ammunition depots and drone facilities in Kabul and Nangarhar, adding many Taliban fighters operate without uniforms and often blend in as civilians. He maintained that precision-guided munitions were used to ensure accuracy and avoid collateral damage.
He said the military camp in Kabul has been under the control of the Afghan Taliban regime since 2021.
According to the ISPR chief, a total of 81 strikes were carried out inside Afghanistan, resulting in the destruction of weapons stockpiles, drone storage sites, and other facilities used for planning and executing attacks against Pakistan. He said secondary explosions observed in affected areas were due to detonating ammunition.
He said that drones used in attacks against Pakistan were supplied to the Afghan Taliban by India. The spokesperson also claimed that some facilities presented as civilian sites, including a purported drug rehabilitation centre, were located within military compounds and may have been used for militant purposes.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said Pakistan possesses evidence, including recorded footage, to support its claims that only terrorist infrastructure was targeted. He also said that vulnerable individuals, including drug addicts, were being exploited for use in suicide attacks.
Highlighting the broader security situation, he noted that Pakistan conducts more than 200 intelligence-based operations daily against militant elements. He added that cross-border smuggling has declined, contributing to a reduction in militant activity.
Providing figures, the ISPR chief said that around 400 civilians were killed in terrorist incidents in 2025, while the monthly average in 2026 has risen significantly. Under Operation ‘Ghazab-lil-Haq’, he said, 707 militants have been killed, over 938 injured, dozens of posts captured, and hundreds of militant hideouts destroyed.
He stressed that Pakistan would not allow militant groups to operate with impunity and vowed that all facilitators and perpetrators would be held accountable.
“The people of Afghanistan are not our adversaries,” he added, noting that they too are victims of the prevailing situation. “However, the current regime is fostering serious threats, including terrorism and narcotics.”
He said the attacker involved in the Terlai Mosque incident had entered from Afghanistan, adding tThe Afghan Taliban regime continues to relocate and provide safe havens to terrorist leadership.
No credible international guarantee can be provided regarding the conduct of the Afghan Taliban regime, he maintained.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad was pausing the military operation, Ghazab-lil-Haq, due to Eid. The pause, he said in a post on X, was on Pakistan’s own initiative and at the request of Islamic countries -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye. The pause would take effect at midnight on Wednesday and last until midnight on March 23.
“Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms,” he said, adding that operations would resume with renewed intensity if there was any cross-border attack, drone attack or any “terrorist incident” inside Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban followed with a similar announcement soon after Tarar.
Kabul was calling a temporary halt to defensive operations on the occasion of Eid and also at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Qatar, Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a post on X.
Afghanistan would respond to any aggression in the event of any threat, he added.
Tarar also said that 707 people had been killed so far in Pakistan’s action against Afghanistan. Both sides have regularly claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on the other and independent verification has not been possible.
On the night of March 16, Pakistan armed forces targeted Afghan military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar. In the strikes, Pakistan’s forces destroyed drone storage and technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage sites in Kabul and Nangarhar, which were being used by the Afghan Taliban and terrorist elements to carry out attacks against Pakistani civilians.
Similarly, the Pakistan armed forces effectively targeted and destroyed Afghan Taliban posts in the Bajaur, Kurram, Torkham Khyber, North and South Waziristan sectors.
Separately, Pakistan on Wednesday strongly rejected as “baseless”, “misleading”, and “unwarranted” a statement, issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs regarding Pakistan’s ongoing action against terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Responding to the remarks, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said it was “preposterous” for a country with a record of undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours to comment on adherence to international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter. “Such statements cannot divert attention from the fact that India has been, and continues to, suppress and deny the right to self-determination of Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in violation of relevant UN resolutions,” Andrabi said.
He was responding to comments by Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, who had criticised Pakistan’s strikes targeting terrorist infrastructure in Kabul and Nangarhar.
Pakistan firmly rejected these allegations, maintaining that the strikes carried out on the night of March 16 were “precise, deliberate, and professional”.
“No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted. The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure, including ammunition depots, technical equipment storage sites, and other installations linked to hostile activity against Pakistan,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar earlier clarified.
Andrabi further urged India to refrain from supporting and sponsoring terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, including those listed under the United Nations Security Council sanctions regime.
“We will undoubtedly seek accountability for them,” Haqqani said and warned those behind Monday night’s bombing: “We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes.”
“We do not want war but the situation has come to this,” he said. “So, we are trying to solve the problems through diplomacy.”
Not all victims are being buried in Kabul, as some bodies have been sent for burial in their home provinces, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP earlier.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Wednesday that “hundreds” were killed and wounded, in the first independent confirmation of the heavy death toll.
According to a related development, Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban regime’s ambassador in Qatar, said in an interview with an Indian media outlet that “Afghanistan can provide a written assurance that no harm will be carried out against Pakistan from Afghan territory”.
He said many efforts were made to resolve issues with Pakistan through negotiations, but they yielded no results. He added that Pakistan has now chosen a military approach instead of diplomacy, but has also seen the consequences.
Shaheen stated that Pakistan expects Afghanistan to guarantee that no security incidents occur across all of Pakistan, which he said is unrealistic and something no one can guarantee.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday to participate in a consultative ministerial meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, hosted by Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the visit, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Islamabad would express its unequivocal support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of all brotherly countries in the region, while calling for an immediate halt to attacks on their territories.
Prior to his departure for Riyadh, Dar held a telephone conversation with Fidan. According to the Foreign Office, the two leaders discussed the evolving regional situation and expressed serious concern over rising tensions.
