ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will maintain its existing policy towards Afghanistan unless the Afghan Taliban leadership abandons what he described as a “guerrilla mindset,” Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Wednesday.
Speaking on a private television programme, the minister said the Taliban’s attitude towards Pakistan differed from its approach to other countries, adding that Islamabad had previously attempted to improve relations through dialogue but would now continue practical measures to safeguard national security.
The statement comes after a series of suicide attacks in Islamabad, Bajaur and Bannu, which authorities linked to militant groups operating from Afghan territory. In response, Pakistan conducted intelligence-based strikes targeting alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces along the border areas.
Officials said the strikes targeted camps belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), its affiliates and Daesh-Khorasan elements. Pakistan has repeatedly urged Kabul to prevent the use of its territory by militant groups for attacks inside Pakistan.
Chaudhry said Islamabad wanted to see the Afghan authorities act as a responsible state, adding that the preferred solution remained dialogue. However, he warned that the current policy approach would continue if cross-border militancy persisted.
Following the strikes, Afghan forces resorted to firing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Torkham and Tirah sectors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier this week, officials said. Pakistani security forces responded effectively, silencing the firing from the Afghan side.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed that Pakistan would respond immediately and decisively to any further provocation, reiterating the country’s commitment to protecting its citizens and territorial integrity.