KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Pakistan’s military says it has killed 1,873 militants in nationwide counterterrorism operations this year, including 136 Afghan nationals, as tensions with the Taliban continue to escalate over cross-border militancy.
The military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad on Friday that security forces conducted more than 67,000 intelligence-based operations in 2025. He said 4,910 of those operations were carried out since November 4 alone, resulting in the deaths of 206 militants.
Chaudhry said most of the operations took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, two provinces that have seen a sharp rise in attacks by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatist groups. According to him, security forces conducted 12,857 operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 53,309 in Balochistan.
He said securing the long, rugged border with Afghanistan remained one of Pakistan’s biggest security challenges. Smuggling networks, frequent attacks on border posts, and attempts to move vehicles illegally across crossing points have increased the burden on security forces, he added.
Chaudhry said Pakistan’s dispute is with what he called “the Taliban regime,” accusing it of hosting TTP militants and treating them as “guests,” while insisting Pakistan has no issue with the Afghan population. He said trade restrictions with Afghanistan were tied to security concerns, adding that “blood and business cannot go together.”
He urged the Taliban to prevent militants from using Afghan territory to stage attacks, saying the group’s approach had enabled non-state actors to threaten multiple regional countries. “Pakistan demands that the Afghan Taliban behave like a proper state,” he said.
Pakistan has recorded a surge in militant attacks in recent years, particularly in districts bordering Afghanistan. Islamabad blames TTP fighters based in Afghanistan for many of the attacks, alleging the group crosses the border to strike Pakistani forces. The Taliban deny hosting TTP members and say the group operates inside Pakistan.
Border tensions have sharply escalated in recent months. Deadly clashes in October left dozens dead on both sides before Qatar and Turkey brokered a temporary ceasefire. Pakistani and Taliban delegations later held two meetings in Istanbul, but officials familiar with the talks say they broke down over the issue of TTP’s presence in Afghanistan. Pakistan pushed for written guarantees that the Taliban would curb and relocate TTP fighters, a condition the Taliban have not formally agreed to.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Saturday that Islamabad had been ready to launch a “clearance operation” inside Afghanistan during the October clashes. He added that the plan was called off following mediation proposals from Qatar and Turkey. Dar also noted that the Taliban informed him earlier this year that they had detained over 100 TTP members, but he described this action as insufficient and urged stronger, sustained measures to prevent militants from posing a threat to the region.
