Info minister says Pakistan targeted terrorists, support infrastructure in Afghanistan overnight

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that Pakistan successfully targeted terrorist affiliated locations in Afghanistan overnight.

In a post on X, he said, “It is pertinent to mention that on the night of 12/13 March 2026, Pakistan successfully targeted terrorists’ affiliated installations in Afghanistan.“

He said that terrorists and their support infrastructure, including logistic bases, and camps, were targeted. His post also showed the strikes, with the minister saying that Pakistan “precisely targeted only those installations which directly/indirectly support terrorism from inside Afghanistan and terrorist camps”.

“No civilian population or civilian infrastructures were targeted as falsely propagated by Afghan regime officials and media,” he asserted.

The statement by the minister came hours after security sources said that in overnight strikes against terrorists and Afghan Taliban targets, the armed forces destroyed training camps and support infrastructure in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan’s Armed Forces have carried out successful airstrikes inside Afghanistan as part of the ongoing Operation Ghazab Lil Haq,” confirmed security sources.

According to security sources, the headquarters of the Afghan Taliban 313 Corps in Kabul, along with its associated infrastructure and an ammunition depot, were destroyed.

In Kandahar, the Tarawo terrorist training camp was struck along with an oil storage facility.

The armed forces also carried out strikes against the Sher-e-Nau terrorist camp, located in the Paktia province, added the security sources.

According to the sources, Pakistani forces shot down three drones of Fitna al-Khawarij using electronic warfare. Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The development comes as Pakistan continues with Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, which was launched in late February following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border.

In his X post on Friday, the information minister also provided an update on Afghan losses, saying that 663 Afghan Taliban operatives had been killed and more than 887 injured during Operation Ghazab lil-Haq.

He said that 249 check posts had been destroyed, while 44 posts were captured.

He added that 224 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns had been destroyed, while 70 terrorists and terrorist support infrastructure locations across Afghanistan were effectively targeted by air.

Souring relations

There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan heightened once again after the Feb 16 vehicle-borne suicide attack on a joint security forces post in Bajaur district near the Afghan border. Terrorists belonging to the TTP attempted to breach the Malangi check post and rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into its perimeter wall after an exchange of fire.

Eleven Pakistani soldiers were martyred. A young girl also died, and seven others, including women and children, were injured when a nearby residential building was damaged in the blast.

Investigators said the suicide bomber, identified as Amad, alias Qari Abdullah or Abu Zar, was a member of the Afghan Taliban’s special forces from Balkh province. The TTP claimed responsibility for the assault.

Then, on Feb 21, a lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were martyred in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district.

In its statement, the military reiterated that terrorists were “using Afghan soil” for carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, “violating the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan”.

“Pakistan will not exercise any restrain and operations would continue against the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act for justified retribution against khwarij, irrespective of their location,” the ISPR asserted.

On Feb 19, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan if attacks continued from across the border, saying military options remained viable.

In November last year, Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, had claimed that Pakistan had “bombed” Khost province, and carried out air strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces.

At the time, Pakistan had neither confirmed nor denied the strikes, which were reported the same day a deadly suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters saw three personnel embrace martyrdom and 12 sustain injuries.

The strikes were reported almost a month after deadly border clashes at the Pak-Afghan border had resulted in the martyrdom of 23 Pakistani soldiers and the killing of over 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists, according to the ISPR.

The skirmishes began “on the night of Oct 11/12, 2025, [after] Afghan Taliban and India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij launched an unprovoked attack on Pakistan, along the Pak-Afghan border”.