• Hafiz Gul Bahadur group’s positions in the crosshairs hours after audacious gun-and-bomb attack in North Waziristan
• Strikes come despite extension of ceasefire; security officials say ‘truce with Afghan govt, not terror outfits’
• Khawaja Asif accuses Afghan Taliban of ‘sitting in India’s lap’; says terrorists will be made to pay heavy price, wherever they are
• Questions remain over Qatar-mediated talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in absence of clarity over who will attend
ISLAMABAD: With representatives from both sides expected to meet in Doha soon for talks mediated by the Qatari government, a telling statement from the country’s defence minister indicated that the gloves were off, as Pakistan again targeted terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan on Friday.
The attacks came on the heels of an audacious gun-and-bomb attack, targeting[1] a military installation in North Waziristan, and just hours after Islamabad and Kabul extended their two-day ceasefire[2].
Incidents were reported from the Angoor Adda region and across Afghanistan’s Urgun and Barmal districts of Paktika province, as security sources claimed that precision strikes were conducted against hideouts of the outlawed Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, reportedly killing dozens of fighters.
“If someone attacks Afghanistan, our forces are ready to respond,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Ariana News. However, Pakistani security sources pointed out that the ceasefire agreement between the Afghan government and Pakistan did not preclude strikes on terror outfits and their hideouts.
There was no statement from Pakistan’s military, but terrorists linked to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group had claimed responsibility for the attack on Khaddi Fort in Mir Ali, where a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of a military camp before attempting to stage an incursion earlier in the day.
Although there was no official word from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on losses suffered, security sources claimed to have foiled the attack by eliminating all attackers.
The attack began on Friday morning, with local sources describing a massive explosion, followed by heavy gunfire as terrorists attempted to enter the military camp. Sources said that “all four” attackers were killed.
Heavy price to pay
In a telling statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the relationship with Kabul would no longer be like it was in the past. “There will no longer be protest notes or appeals for peace; no delegations will go to Kabul. Wherever the source of terrorism lies, it will have to pay a heavy price,” he wrote.
Mr Asif accused Afghanistan of “sitting in India’s lap and plotting conspiracies against Pakistan”, saying that Islamabad “can no longer afford to have relations with Kabul like in the past”.
“All Afghans on Pakistani soil will have to go back to their homeland,” he wrote. “Now they have their own government [or] caliphate in Kabul. It has been five years since the Islamic revolution… they must live with Pakistan as neighbours.”
In the post, the defence minister elaborated on the visits by Pakistani delegations to Kabul and provided figures for acts of terrorism by groups operating out of Afghanistan and the total number of casualties.
Since the Taliban took power in 2021, Pakistani foreign ministers visited Kabul four times; defence ministers and the ISI chiefs visited twice; the special representative and foreign secretaries carried out five visits each; the national security adviser visited once, and the Joint Coordination Committee had eight meetings in the Afghan capital.
He added that there were 225 border flag meetings, 836 protest notes and 13 demarches.
“From 2021 to date: 3,844 martyred (civilians, military, and law enforcement agencies combined). Terrorist incidents: 10,347,” the defence minister listed.
Truce talks?
The fresh exchanges on Friday night cast a shadow over the ceasefire, which had been extended just a few hours earlier, as well as the planned Doha talks.
“The ceasefire has been mutually extended by both Pakistan and Afghanistan till the end of the talks in Doha, Qatar. The talks are ready to begin [on Saturday],” a security source said on Friday evening at the conclusion of the initial 48-hour truce, which had been in effect since Wednesday.
The two-day ceasefire was largely observed without violations, but the dialogue initially agreed at the time of its announcement, aimed at addressing what Pakistan’s Foreign Office described as a “complex but solvable issue”, failed to take place during that period.
Earlier in the day, at his weekly media briefing, outgoing Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan reiterated: “Afghanistan has become a central breeding ground for global terrorism.”
He warned the international community against complacency, adding, “We do not have to wait for a big disaster happening at the global scale before we take remedial action. This fire will spread. This has to be stopped.”
No bilateral initiative for talks emerged during the first phase of the truce. However, Qatar, which along with Saudi Arabia had pushed both sides to halt hostilities, offered to host their meeting in Doha. The talks, initially slated for Thursday or Friday, were postponed by a day due to logistical issues and reluctance within the Taliban leadership to engage, sources said.
Reports from Afghanistan suggest that the Taliban delegation would include Defence Minister Mullah Yaqub Mujahid and intelligence chief Mullah Wasiq. Pakistan’s Foreign Office stayed silent on the matter, but a late-evening meeting between National Security Adviser and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Asim Malik and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar suggested that Gen Malik may travel to Doha.
Return of victims’ remains
Earlier on Friday, Afghan authorities handed over the bodies of seven Pakistani citizens — including two security personnel — to Pakistani officials at the border following the deadly Taliban attack in the Chaman sector on Tuesday.
“The Taliban authorities handed over all the seven bodies to Pakistan through Hilal-e-Ahmar Pakistan (Red Crescent),” Abdul Wali Khan Ghabizai of the Balochistan chapter of the organization confirmed. He said Taliban officials announced at the Vesh Mandi border post that they were returning the remains of Pakistanis who had died “in the armed clash between two countries.”
The bodies were taken to the District Hospital in Chaman for identification and medicolegal formalities.
“Five bodies were brought to the district hospital Chaman,” said Dr Muhammad Awais, the hospital’s medical superintendent. “Four out of five martyrs have been identified as residents of the border town, while the fifth could not be identified so far.”
Two of the deceased were identified as security personnel — Naik Suleman and Sepoy Sabir — whose remains were later transferred to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Quetta. Officials said that four of the five civilians were killed by mortar shell splinters, while one was hit in the forehead. The victims — identified as Syed Ali Adozai, Muhammad Asghar Ashaizai, Rozi Khan Salehzai, and Nasibullah Salehzai — were local daily-wage workers. They were buried in their native villages Friday evening.
Local residents in Chaman claimed that at least 12 Pakistani civilians were killed earlier in Taliban attacks in Spin Boldak, the first Afghan district across the border.
Responding to reports that bodies of some Pakistani soldiers had been mutilated, the Foreign Office spokesman at the weekly media briefing said, “This kind of savagery, bestiality, is condemnable, and it needs to be condemned in the strongest words possible. This is beyond the pale. It is beyond humanity, and this has deeply offended us and deeply hurt the Pakistani people.” “It is not something to be forgiven and forgotten easily,” Mr Khan added.
Saleem Shahid from Quetta also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025