The United States (US) State Department said on Thursday that Washington DC “supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks,” as the intermittent conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan continues.
“The Pakistani people have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists,” the State Department added.
Pakistan is nuclear-armed and its military capabilities are vastly superior to Afghanistan’s. However, the Afghan Taliban, who govern Afghanistan, are adept at guerrilla warfare, hardened by decades of fighting US-led forces before returning to power in 2021 when Washington withdrew.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of harboring terrorists it blames for plotting attacks in Pakistan.
Three weeks ago, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had announced that Pakistan carried out strikes on terrorist hideouts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing 26 terrorists.
Tarar said that the strikes targeted hideouts and safe havens of Fitna al-Khwarij masterminds, destroying a training centre, a hideout, an ammunition cache and centres belonging to commanders Aleem Khan Khushali and Akhtar Muhammad Jani Khel.
Fitna al-Khwarij is the term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Tarar said that action came after a string of attacks, including one on a Federal Constabulary post in Musa Dara where six personnel were martyred, a foiled suicide attack on a military post in North Waziristan and a suicide attack on a Bannu post that killed 15 police personnel. He added that Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign under “Azm-i-Istehkam” would continue at full pace.
