Afghan Taliban, Pakistani military clash along the border

The Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani military skirmished along their joint border overnight after the Taliban launched a “retaliatory operation” for the Pakistani Air Force targeting the head of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) two days ago. Both sides claimed to have inflicted high casualties. The two countries have clashed in the past due to the Afghan Taliban’s support for the TTP.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that his government’s forces launched an “overnight retaliatory operation against Pakistan,” which has “achieved our objectives.” The Taliban hit Pakistani military installations at 20 locations across the border spanning from the Afghan province of Kunar in the north to Kandahar in the south.

Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that 20 Pakistani military outposts were captured, “58 [Pakistani] soldiers have been killed, 30 [were] wounded, and weapons and ammunition have also been seized.” Mujadid said that nine Taliban fighters were killed during the attacks.

Taliban Ministry of Defense Spokesman Enayat Khowarazm said the operations were launched in response to “repeated violations of Afghanistan’s airspace and the aerial bombardment on Afghanistan’s territory by the Pakistani military.” On the night of October 9, the Taliban military targeted TTP emir Noor Wali Mehsud in an airstrike on the Afghan capital of Kabul. Mehsud and his cadre, which launches repeated terror attacks in Pakistan, shelter in Afghanistan with the support and approval of the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistani military claims success in repelling Taliban attack

The Pakistani military claimed that the Afghan Taliban struck in Pakistan with the support of the “Indian-sponsored Fitna al Khawarij,” the name the Pakistani state calls the TTP. Pakistan attempts to shift the blame for the TTP’s insurgency in Pakistan toward India, even though the Afghan Taliban, which supports the TTP, has been supported by Pakistan for four decades.

The Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations division (ISPR) described the Afghan Taliban’s attacks as a “cowardly action, which included fire and [a] few physical raids” and “was aimed at destabilizing the border areas to facilitate terrorism.” The ISPR said the attack was “repelled … decisively all along the border and [Pakistani forces] inflicted heavy casualties on Taliban Forces and affiliated Khwarjis.”

“As a result of these unrelenting operations, multiple Taliban locations were destroyed all along the border; twenty-one (21) hostile positions on the Afghan side of the border were also briefly physically captured and multiple terrorist training camps, used to plan and facilitate attacks against Pakistan, were rendered inoperative,” the ISPR claimed. According to the ISPR, 23 Pakistani soldiers and over 200 Taliban fighters were killed during the fighting.

The Pakistani government and military are directly responsible for the rise of the TTP. Pakistan has supported the Afghan Taliban since its founding in 1994 and used the group to improve its “strategic depth”—both geographically in Afghanistan and as a fighting force—against its primary foe, India. The Afghan Taliban also supports the TTP and has provided shelter for the terror group as it has launched its insurgency in Pakistan. The Pakistani state has been well aware of the close relationship between the Taliban and the TTP, but has looked the other way for three decades to maintain its coveted strategic depth.

TTP attacks in Pakistan have been a point of contention between the two allies since the Afghan Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The Pakistani military and the Afghan Taliban have exchanged fire several times along their shared border in the four years since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after US forces withdrew, and the Afghan government and military collapsed. However, this exchange of fire is the most intense in that period.

It is likely that the fighting will die down, as it has in past conflicts between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan is unlikely to risk a full-scale war against the Taliban on its western border while its prime enemy, India, sits on its eastern border. In addition, the Taliban is still consolidating power after seizing Afghanistan and isn’t in a position to risk a major war with its sponsor.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.