The aftermath of Pakistan’s attack on Afghanistan’s Chamukarni region (Image source: Reuters)
Pakistani security forces carried out ground operations and airstrikes along the Afghan border on Monday, killing 29 people, officials said. Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the attack on X and said “three targets at Paktia, Paktika and Kunar were destroyed in precision strikes” targeting Pakistani hideouts. Taliban and its affiliate Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.Kabul tells a different story. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the attack as a “cowardly act of aggression,” and Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat detailed the civilian casualties in a social media post on Monday, saying: “According to reports available so far, last night’s attack resulted in the deaths of 36 civilians, including women and children, and the injury of 163 others. Three homes were completely destroyed. “ Fitrat provides location-by-location details. An elderly man and a child were killed when Pakistani warplanes attacked a residential house in Mandokhail village in Chamkani district of Paktiya. Later, when local residents gathered for rescue, the area was bombed again, killing 28 villagers and injuring 158 others. Six people, mostly women and children, were killed in Varust village in Paktikajan district. A third attack in the village of Barolo in the Manogai district of Kunal destroyed a house but caused no casualties.Pakistan denies targeting civilians.
what triggered Operation
The attack came less than 24 hours after militants armed with guns and explosives attacked the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers regional headquarters in Karachi on Saturday night, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested a fourth, whom the military identified as a wounded Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack.Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in February, saying it aimed to eliminate cross-border militants. Despite four months of airstrikes, ground operations and claims of territorial gains in Afghanistan, militants have continued to launch attacks in Pakistan, including Karachi.Monday’s operation was Pakistan’s second major military operation along the Afghan border this month. On June 10, Pakistan launched air strikes in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban said 13 civilians were killed, 11 of them children. Pakistan says 26 TTP militants died.On June 19, Afghanistan launched its own attack inside Pakistan, targeting what Kabul called ISIS-K camps and “hostile intelligence circles.”
ground campaign
Since its launch on February 26, Operation Ghazab Al-Haq has conducted sustained air strikes, artillery exchanges, drone operations and ground incursions in eastern and southern Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say their forces have killed more than 800 militants, destroyed more than 280 border posts and struck more than 80 locations across Afghanistan. Kabul disputes the claims, which have not been independently confirmed.The activity is spread across three broad areas.In the north, Pakistani troops battled Taliban forces in Nuristan and Kunar, with prolonged shelling closing roads to Khandesh and Barji Matar for nearly two months. According to the United Nations, the blockade has left some 100,000 residents without access to food and medical supplies.In the east, Pakistani forces attacked Taliban regiment and brigade headquarters, ammunition depots and border positions in Nangarhar, Khost and Paktia. Satellite images reviewed by The New York Times and BBC News confirmed attacks on ammunition depots in Kabul and Kandahar. On March 1, Pakistani aircraft also attacked Bagram Air Base, destroying a hangar and two warehouses.In the south, the BBC reported in late March that Pakistan had erected a fence on approximately 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory in Paktika, with the fence line extending for more than 12 kilometers within the border. Afghan officials deny any occupation. Pakistan says the positions are tactical.The Taliban launched its own retaliatory military operation on February 26 under the command of Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob, targeting border positions in six Pakistani provinces. It has since carried out regular cross-border drone attacks on Pakistani garrison cities such as Islamabad, Kohat and Quetta. Most were intercepted, but the attacks were serious enough to prompt Pakistan to impose a nationwide ban on drone flights.
ceasefire talks
Multiple ceasefire efforts have failed.Fighting resumed in March after a brief five-day Eid al-Fitr truce brokered by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye. China hosted talks in Urumqi in April, but the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister said the discussions resulted in no agreement and blamed Pakistani officials. Subsequently, in early June, an informal round of negotiations was held in Termez, mediated by Uzbekistan.Pakistan’s three demands remain unchanged: Afghanistan must formally designate the TTP as a terrorist organization, dismantle its infrastructure and provide verifiable evidence of its operations. Kabul refused.Pakistani officials said operations would continue until those conditions were met. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in May that the operation would proceed with “all-out efforts”.
