‘Pak’s strikes against TTP leaders in Kabul were signal of new doctrine’

Islamabad: Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban’s top leaders in Kabul last month were a signal of a new doctrine that Islamabad will act if the Afghan Taliban fails to take action against militants carrying out cross-border attacks from Afghanistan, according to a media report.

The deadly strikes in the heart of Kabul was aimed at sending what officials described as an “unmistakable message” to the

Taliban regime that Pakistan would no longer restrict its counterterrorism responses to its own soil, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Monday, quoting official sources.

“The Kabul strikes were not a one-off episode,” said a senior source. “They were a signal of a new doctrine. If the Taliban fail to act, Pakistan will act.”

The strike, widely interpreted as Pakistan’s most assertive move since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, targeted hideouts and facilitators responsible for orchestrating recent attacks inside Pakistan.

Citing officials familiar with the assessment, the paper said the Kabul operation has had a “psychological impact” on the Afghan Taliban’s leadership and security apparatus.

“Since the Kabul strikes, there is a clear element of fear and caution within the Taliban ranks,” one official said.

“They now understand that Pakistan will chase the TTP or any other group wherever it finds them, even inside Kabul.”

The official said that in the immediate aftermath of the recent terrorist attack in Islamabad, Afghan

Taliban interlocutors privately reached out to

Pakistani authorities with requests to de-escalate and conveyed that they had “no involvement” in the suicide attack outside the judicial complex.