By Ajay Kaul
For decades, devious Pakistan has persistently engaged in attempts to cause destabilization and destruction in its neighbouring countries, be it India or Afghanistan. And its nefarious designs have been exposed, once again.
In the latest instance, a deadly plan of Pakistan vis-à-vis Afghanistan has been foiled by the Afghan forces who intercepted a huge number of heavily-armed infiltrators, including militia personnel and ISIS terrorists, trained and sent by Pakistani agencies.
These mercenaries, who tried to enter Afghanistan via the border in its Nuristan province, numbered more than 300, according to reports.
Alert forces of the Afghan Taliban ambushed them, killing at least 33 and capturing dozens of others. Several others fled back to Pakistan.
The operation is still underway as many of the infiltrators are believe to be hiding in the mountains.
Afghan forces said they recovered huge quantities of arms, ammunition, Pakistani currency and other items from these infiltrators.
The Afghan Taliban regime said the intruders were Pakistan-trained mercenaries and terrorists. They included ISIS terrorists and Pakistani militias.
Videos surfaced on social media showing several men in the custody of Afghan forces and stating that they had been trained and sent by Pakistani intelligence agencies to cause destruction in Afghanistan.
The development comes after repeated airstrikes by Pakistan at multiple places in Afghanistan, which have resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including women and children.
One such air attack targeted a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, in which over 300 patients, doctors and other medical personnel were killed or injured.
Cross-Border Affiliations
Pakistan has been claiming that its cross-border attacks in Afghanistan are targeted against hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) even though the armed Islamist group is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan itself and displaying it too.
The Taliban regime of Afghanistan has repeatedly insisted that the TTP has no existence in that country and the Pakistan government is trying to blame others for its domestic problems.
TTP too has maintained that it operates only from Pakistan and has no camps in Afghanistan.
Despite these denials, the regime in Pakistan claims that the TTP has training camps in Afghanistan and enjoying the patronage of the Taliban regime there.
The issue related to TTP has been the core reason for hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan, particularly since the Taliban captured power through a bloodless military campaign in August 2021.
These hostilities have grown proportionately with the TTP stepping up its attacks on Pakistani military and affiliated agencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab provinces and in Balochistan over these years.
The TTP has a pronounced agenda of trouncing the Pakistan Army and imposing Sharia rule in Pashtun-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and beyond.
The TTP describes Pakistan Army, particularly its top brass, as “anti-Islam” and American “stooges” who make all kinds of compromises for the sake of “dollars”.
In November 2023, the outfit announced focused and intensified operations against the Pakistani military and converted those pronouncements into action.
In March this year, it named its campaign against Pakistani military as ‘Operation Khyber’, which is continuing with deadly intensity.
The attacks continue to become more and more intense and lethal, as a result of which Pakistani military has been losing thousands of its personnel every year.
Lately, the TTP has been using the latest weapon systems like drones, sniper guns and laser guns to target the Pakistani military, which is clearly unable to handle the sustained onslaught.
The increasing casualties among the forces have also resulted in a substantial degree of demoralization among the military and police personnel. Several of them have quit the forces while many others extend support to the TTP which portrays itself as more Islamic than the personnel of the Pakistani military.
To mock the Pakistani establishment, the TTP fighters move openly and freely in markets and main roads of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The outfit makes videos of such activities and posts those on social media, giving an impression of the extent of control it has in the mountainous region.
The Pakistani military has been using all means, including aerial bombings, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to crush the TTP. But it has failed miserably in this endeavor and questions are being raised within Pakistan over the efficacy and capabilities of the Army.
To mask its failures and to divert attention from the widespread criticism, the Pakistani military has been resorting to airstrikes on some civilian and remote areas of Afghanistan to claim it is targeting TTP camps.
This is an easier option for the Pakistani military since the Taliban regime of Afghanistan does not have an efficient air defence system or any fighter planes to hit back.
The Pakistani military, particularly since February 22 this year, has carried out dozens of airstrikes inside Afghanistan, causing escalation in hostilities with the neighbour.
Only last week, Pakistan conducted air strikes in Afghanistan twice, one of which targeted Taliban’s spiritual base in Kandahar Province.
ISIS Camps in Pakistan
As the Pakistan Army realized that it was failing to influence or compel the Taliban regime of Afghanistan to rein in the TTP, it adopted its favourite route of employing militia personnel and terrorists to perform its dirty tasks.
As part of this plan, the Pakistani military has roped in ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorist outfit. It has set up a large training and nurturing camp in the mountains of Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, close to the border with Afghanistan. The camp was set up in November last year.
Alongside, the Pakistani intelligence agencies have roped in military personnel of the former regime of Afghanistan as well as the anti-Taliban forces led by Ahmad Masood. He is the son of the legendary Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Masood who was assassinated by the Taliban in September 2001 in Kabul.
Ahmad Masood leads National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, which seeks to oust the Taliban regime. The NRF is entrenched in the Panjsher valley in north Afghanistan, which the Taliban have failed to capture despite several attempts militarily.
It is men from these forces who tried to infiltrate into Afghanistan through the Nuristan border.
For now, the Afghan forces have scuttled the attempt but the notorious Pakistani military will surely repeat such things with the motive of destabilizing the Taliban regime.
Now it is to be seen how the Taliban regime deals with this menace.
