Pakistan achieves targets set by it in military operation against Afghanistan: PM's aide

Lahore, Mar 5 (PTI) Pakistan has achieved targets set by it in the recent military operation against Afghanistan, a close aide to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed on Thursday.  Pakistan launched 'Operation Ghazab lil Haq' last week after the Afghan Taliban forces attacked 53 locations along the more than 2,600 kms long border.

"Pakistan’s targets in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in Afghanistan have almost been achieved and are being fortified now," PM’s political adviser Rana Sanaullah said.

He told a private news channel that Pakistan’s "only demand from Afghanistan was that it should not allow its soil to be used for terrorism against us”.

The adviser said Pakistan wants Afghanistan to immediately renounce support for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). "If the Taliban government does so, we have no fight with it,” Sanaullah said.  Meanwhile, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan's armed forces killed 481 Afghan Taliban personnel so far.  "As of March 4, security forces have killed 481 and injured over 696 Afghan Taliban personnel, destroyed 226 check posts, and captured 35 posts," he said in a post on X.  Some 198 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns have been destroyed, while 56 locations across Afghanistan have been effectively targeted by air, he added.  Last Thursday, Pakistan launched air strikes into Afghanistan following the latter's claim that it had carried out large-scale offensive operations against Pakistani military positions and installations on the border shared by the two countries.  Afghanistan had claimed killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers in the attacks and destroying 19 Pakistani army posts and two bases.  Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad is waging “open war” against Afghanistan for allowing the TTP fighters to use its soil against Pakistan.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which share a 2,611-kilometre-long border, have nose-dived since October last. PTI MZ ZH ZH