The Pakistani Executive reported this Thursday that its Armed Forces have carried out airstrikes on ten targets located in Afghanistan "used for the launch and storage" of drones, in response to the eight unmanned devices that, according to Islamabad, were launched from the neighboring country the day before.
"Pakistan has carried out air and precision drone strikes against ten sites in Afghanistan used for the launch and storage of such devices," announced on social media the Information Minister of Pakistan, Ataulá Tarar.
The Information official described the operations as "deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate, strictly limited to identified military targets directly linked to attempts to attack Pakistan."
At the same time, he defended these attacks citing Islamabad's "sovereign right" to "legitimate defense" after the launch of eight drones from Afghan soil the previous day, an "intrusion" that he described as "deliberate and illegal."
"It constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan, as well as a serious and unacceptable act of aggression," he stated, emphasizing that Islamabad condemns these events "in the strongest terms."
However, he pointed out that "Pakistan's air defense systems detected, tracked, and neutralized all intruding platforms before they could reach their intended targets, thus completely thwarting the attack attempt."
"Pakistan will not accept or tolerate attacks launched from Afghan territory, whether by terrorist groups or by the Afghan Taliban regime itself," Tarar stated, warning of the "immediate and forceful response" that each "violation of Pakistani sovereignty" will receive.
At the same time, he demanded that the Taliban regime "immediately cease all hostile activity against Pakistan and fulfill its international obligations," while emphasizing that the Pakistani government "does not seek an escalation of the conflict and maintains its commitment to regional peace, dialogue, and constructive interaction."
Nevertheless, he stressed that "this commitment should not be confused with weakness or with unlimited tolerance for hostile actions."
The border strip between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been dragging a strong instability for years, marked especially by the armed actions of the TTP, while Islamabad accuses both India and the Afghan Taliban authorities of supporting the group, something that New Delhi and Kabul deny. These frictions culminated at the end of February in a new episode of clash between both countries after a series of Pakistani bombings against alleged TTP enclaves in Afghan territory.