ISLAMABAD: The Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, has cautioned that the Afghan Taliban-led administration now poses a security threat not only to Pakistan but to the broader region and the international community. He linked this growing danger to the vast cache of U.S. military hardware—worth $7.2 billion—left behind during the American withdrawal.
In a detailed briefing to senior journalists earlier this week, Lt Gen Chaudhry outlined Pakistan’s ongoing counter-terrorism efforts and criticised the Afghan Taliban for failing to curb cross-border militant activity. He revealed that since November 4, 2025, security forces have executed 4,910 intelligence-based operations (IBOs), eliminating 206 terrorists. Nationwide, 67,023 IBOs have been carried out this year, resulting in the killing of 1,873 militants, including 136 identified as Afghan nationals.
He underscored the immense challenge of securing the Pak-Afghan frontier, particularly the rugged 1,229-kilometre stretch in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which has 20 official crossing points. The DG ISPR warned of a “robust political-terror-crime nexus” operating along the border, enabled by “Fitna al-Khawarij” elements and facilitated through the widespread use of non-custom-paid vehicles involved in suicide attacks.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said the crackdown on Iranian diesel smuggling has significantly reduced daily inflows from 20.5 million litres to 2.7 million litres, depriving groups like the BLA and BYC of major funding sources. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s demand that the Afghan Taliban halt support for militant outfits—such as al-Qaeda and Daesh—whose leadership and infrastructure operate from Afghanistan. Pakistan, he added, is ready to accept a third-party-verified mechanism to address these concerns.
He stressed that Pakistan’s dispute lies with the Taliban regime’s policies, not the Afghan people, and linked trade restrictions with Afghanistan to the imperative of safeguarding Pakistani lives.
