He stressed that Pakistan’s problem was with the Afghan Taliban regime and not with the Afghan people.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. Photo: File
Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has issued a stark warning that the Afghan regime now poses a threat not only to Pakistan but to the entire region and the world, citing the abandonment of $7.2 billion worth of US military equipment during the US withdrawal.
Speaking to senior journalists on November 25 on national security issues, DG ISPR detailed the extensive counter-terrorism operations and criticized the Afghan Taliban’s failure to prevent cross-border incursions and its continued support for militant groups.
Read: DG ISPR rejects Kabul’s claims on airstrikes, says Pakistan ‘does not operate in secret’
Lt Gen Chaudhry said Pakistani security forces have carried out 4,910 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) since November 4, 2025, killing 206 terrorists. For the current year, a total of 67,023 IBOs were carried out across the country, resulting in the deaths of 1,873 terrorists, including 136 Afghans.
He highlighted the extreme difficulty of managing the Pak-Afghan border, which is very difficult and has difficult terrain, especially the 1,229 km Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa stretch comprising 20 crossing points.
A key part of the DG ISPR briefing was the revelation of a “very strong political, terrorist and criminal nexus” operating in the border areas. He claimed this link was facilitated by the “Fitna al-Khawarij” and used non-personalized paid vehicles – millions of which are believed to be in circulation – in suicide attacks in Pakistan.
“If non-personalized paid vehicles are circulating in your province, who is responsible for stopping them? » he contested, asserting that illegal smuggling fuels the terrorist network. The crackdown on Iranian diesel smuggling has seen the daily volume drop from 20.5 million liters to 2.7 million liters, with proceeds previously funding groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Youth Council (BYC).
Learn more: Army rejects Afghanistan airstrikes claims as ‘baseless’
On the diplomatic front, DG ISPR reiterated Pakistan’s clear position on the Doha Accord, demanding that the Afghan Taliban regime stop facilitating terrorists, whose leadership and infrastructure, including al-Qaeda and Daesh, exist in Afghanistan and receive arms and funds for use against Pakistan.
Pakistan calls on the Afghan regime to agree on a “verifiable mechanism”, saying Pakistan would have no objection if this mechanism was established by a third party.
He rejected the Taliban regime’s claim that the militants are migrating Pakistani citizens and “guests”, challenging them to hand over any Pakistani national to be treated according to Pakistani law.
Lt. Gen. Chaudhry reiterated that the Afghan regime is currently harboring “non-state actors” who pose a threat to various countries in the region, highlighting the Taliban’s failure to establish an inclusive state and government after 2021. He stressed that Pakistan’s problem was with the Afghan Taliban regime and not the Afghan people, criticizing the lack of representation of all ethnicities and the exclusion of 50 percent of women.
Also read: 2025: security forces carry out more than 67,000 PCIs
Concluding his speech, he stressed that “blood and trade cannot go hand in hand”, linking the closure of trade with Afghanistan to Pakistan’s need to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
