Pakistani premier calls for improved relations with Afghanistan amid tensions over borders

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday called for improved relations with Afghanistan and urged Kabul to take action against terrorists living on their soil.

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting, Premier Sharif said the Afghan interim government should take practical actions to eliminate terrorist hideouts on its soil.

"We have conveyed to the Afghan government that we desire good ties with them but TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) should be stopped from killing our innocent people. This is a red line," Sharif said in his video statement aired by state-run Pakistan Television.

Sharif also expressed concerns over TTP attacks inside Pakistan and said talks and militant attacks cannot continue simultaneously.

Sharif's statement came after Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that its forces carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, killing "terrorists."

The interim Taliban administration in Kabul on Tuesday night claimed that the Pakistani military carried out airstrikes, the second such cross-border action by Islamabad since March, in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province.

Sharing details on Wednesday, the Taliban administration deputy spokesman Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat said the bombing by Pakistani jets killed 46 people, including women and children, and injured six others. He added houses were also destroyed.

Following the airstrikes, Kabul said the Taliban administration “will not leave this cowardly act unanswered."

However, Islamabad rejected the reports Pakistan targeted children and women.

Pakistan lost 383 soldiers this year

At least 383 Pakistani security personnel and officers were killed during military operations against the suspected militants across the country this year, the military said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in military headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that Pakistani security forces carried out 59,779 intelligence-based operations and killed 925 terrorists in 2024.

He added that key militant leaders, including 73 most-wanted terrorists, were also killed during these operations.

Chaudhry added that the roots of these terrorists traced back to Afghanistan and he urged Kabul to take action against TTP and other militant groups.

Islamabad claims terrorists from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are based in Afghanistan, from where they carry out attacks in Pakistan. Kabul, however, denies the accusation.