Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Saturday that about 300 Afghan Taliban fighters and members of allied groups have been killed so far in cross-border clashes with his country’s forces.In a late-night update, Tarar said Pakistani security forces killed 297 Afghan Taliban fighters and wounded more than 450 others.
He added that the army destroyed 89 Taliban posts and captured 18 more during Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, while approximately 135 tanks and armored vehicles were also destroyed. According to Tarar, around 29 locations across Afghanistan were effective targets of the Pakistan Air Force.The operation was launched after Afghan forces reportedly attacked 53 locations along the more than 2,600 kilometer border between the two neighbors.At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Pakistan army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban must make a “clear choice” between supporting terrorist groups or Pakistan.“The oppressive Afghan Taliban regime has to make a clear decision. The choice is to choose between Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Baloch Liberation Army, Daesh, Al Qaeda, terrorists and terrorist organisations… and Pakistan,” Chaudhry told reporters.Islamabad has long accused Kabul of allowing Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups to operate from Afghan soil, providing them with residency, training and logistics to carry out cross-border attacks. The Afghan side rejects these claims and calls on Pakistan to address its own internal challenges through dialogue with the militants.(With PTI inputs)
