Monitoring Desk: The infiltration of a huge group of TTP terrorists from Afghanistan and consequently the killing of 71 of them by the Pakistan Army reaffirmed that the soil of Afghanistan continues to be a launching pad of terrorism against Pakistan.
It also left two possible answers from the Afghan Taliban in response to the recent visit of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, to Kabul. One possible answer is that “we (Afghan Taliban) cannot stop terrorists from playing havoc with Pakistan’s peace and the second possible answer is that “we (Afghan Taliban) do not listen to you”.
This huge infiltration was intercepted and neutralized by the Pakistan Army on the same night when Joint Secretary of the External Affairs Ministry of India, M Anand Prakas, was in Kabul and having meetings with the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, as well as with former President Hamid Karzai. Anand Prakash had a busy two-day visit and held meetings with Muttaqi in Afghanistan’s capital on Sunday (27 April). It is pertinent to mention that the Taliban’s foreign ministry has strongly condemned the 22 April terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, stating, “These occurrences sabotage attempts to maintain security and stability in the region”. It may be remembered that instead of condemning an attack on Jaffar Express and condoling with the families of victims, Afghan Taliban released a strong-worded statement rejecting Pakistan’s statement that terrorists who attacked Jaffar Express were taking instructions from Afghan soil. “We categorically reject the baseless claim regarding the Taliban’s connection to the attack on the passenger train in Balochistan,” claimed the Taliban in their statement. Taliban also claimed that no member of the Baloch separatist militia was present in Afghanistan and denied any ties with the group.
Prakash also had a meeting with the former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, where they talked about the regional conditions and fortifying the relationship between India and Afghanistan. Anand Prakash, while in Kabul, got the news that the Pakistan Army sent 71 TTP terrorists to hell while entering Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Following the successful engagements by the security forces in North Waziristan District (NWD) from 25-28 April 2025, during which 71 khwarij were sent to hell in the surrounding areas of Hassan Khel, NWD, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border.
On Monday, Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) of Pakistan Armed Forces released a statement informing that it had sent another group of terrorists to hell who were present in the Pak-Afghan bordering area. The statement added that during the conduct of the operation, seventeen more khwarij, who were operating on the behest of their foreign masters, were hunted down and successfully neutralized.
Intelligence reports indicate that khawarijs (official name of TTP terrorists) were specifically infiltrating on the behest of their “foreign masters” to undertake high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan. Such actions by TTP at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan imply whose cues TTP is operating on.
The Afghan Taliban and India have recently announced a “strategic partnership” after a meeting in Dubai. On January 11, 2025 Indian Secretary of External Affairs Vikram Misri met acting foreign minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Dubai and decided that “both the countries will engage in sharing information for security updates, will get involved in development works, resume regular Kabul-Delhi flights and ensure presences of Indian workers in Kabul”.
This meeting was held in the backdrop of news that Washington had been constantly funding the Taliban and up to $87 million per week in cash, $10 million per month for the Taliban’s Doha office in Qatar, and $446 million out of Operation Enduring Sentinel (OES). It was also claimed by a US-based Think Tank that $3.5 billion was taken from Afghanistan’s legitimate government reserves and channeled for use by the Taliban.
A DW report titled “Why India is Boosting Diplomatic Relations with the Taliban” indicates that this is a move to counter China. It is understood that countering China is not the sole desire of India, but it is an integral part of the Indo-US strategic partnership. Intelligence circles believe that in June 2022, India sent a “technical team” to Kabul to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to see how New Delhi could support the Afghan people, and members of this “technical team” were surely undercover Indian intelligence officers who with an understanding with Taliban landed in Kabul to operate for ‘joint interests in the region’. Out of this deal, India allowed a Taliban representative, Ikramuddin Kamil, to work at the Afghan consulate in Mumbai.
It may be mentioned that in November 2024, senior foreign ministry official JP Singh held multiple meetings with Taliban representatives, including a notable meeting with acting Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob to plan for an Indo-Afghan strategic partnership in the Defence field.
