On 11 May, the Foreign Office (FO) of Pakistan summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires in Pakistan and issued him a “strong demarche” in the wake of a terror attack at Fateh Khel police post in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on 9 May. In the attack on the police station, 15 police personnel were killed, and 3 were injured.

Warning the Afghan chargé d’affaires, the FO stated that “it was impressed upon the Afghan side that Pakistan reserves the right to respond decisively against the perpetrators of this barbaric act.” The terror attack and the subsequent diplomatic action raise serious questions about the claims made by Islamabad about its recent military operation against Afghanistan. On 13 May, meanwhile, yet another terror attack in KP killed at least 10.

While launching the military operation against Afghanistan in February, Pakistan had two main goals: to eradicate alleged anti-Pakistan terrorists and infrastructure in Afghanistan and change the behaviour of the Afghan Taliban (the Taliban). Latest developments suggest that Pakistan has failed to achieve these goals.

Operation “Ghazab Lil Haq”

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have reached a low point in recent months. On 23 February, after a spate of attacks in the country, Pakistan carried out military strikes inside Afghanistan. Condemning the strikes and killing of civilians, the Taliban said that Afghanistan has the right to respond to these strikes. Subsequently, the Afghan Taliban carried out strikes against Pakistan along the border.

The situation came full circle when Islamabad launched military operation Ghazab Lil Haq and went on to strike various areas of Afghanistan, hitting civilians, the Taliban’s arms depot, and also a civilian hospital, killing many. The situation was deteriorating until external........

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