KABUL — At least 19 Pakistani soldiers and 45 militants have been killed in a series of raids targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts close to the Afghanistan border, the Pakistani military said, as tensions between Islamabad and Kabul deepen over cross-border militancy.
According to the military, three operations were conducted in recent days across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an area that has long been at the center of Pakistan’s fight against armed groups.
In Bajaur district, 22 militants were reported killed. In South Waziristan, clashes left 13 more fighters and 12 soldiers dead, while in Lower Dir, seven soldiers and 10 militants were killed after troops stormed another hideout.
The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, later claimed responsibility for some of the attacks in statements posted on social media.
The militant group shares ideological ties with the Afghan Taliban but operates separately. Since the Taliban’s takeover in Kabul in 2021, the group has stepped up its attacks inside Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of providing shelter to TTP leaders and fighters, enabling them to regroup and carry out assaults. The Taliban has, however, consistently rejected these allegations, saying no foreign militants are allowed to operate from Afghanistan and insisting that Pakistan’s security problems are “internal.’
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reacting to the latest bloodshed, issued one of Islamabad’s strongest warnings to Taliban in recent years.
“Today, I want to give a clear message to Afghanistan — to choose between Pakistan and the TTP,” he said, warning that if Taliban continues to allow safe havens for militants, “Pakistan will have nothing to do with the interim Afghan government.”
Violence linked to the TTP has surged in Pakistan since 2021, with local residents in several districts reporting fresh graffiti and propaganda from the group, raising fears of a return to the instability of the mid-2000s. Nearly 460 people, mostly security forces, have been killed in militant attacks so far this year, while last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade with more than 1,600 fatalities nationwide.
Analysts say the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government created space for the TTP to regroup, emboldened by the success of their ideological allies across the border.
The renewed tensions also carry risks for Afghanistan. Cross-border tensions have been steadily rising, with repeated accusations from Islamabad, closures of key border crossings, mass deportation of Afghan migrants. military build-ups, and occasional airstrikes in frontier provinces.
