Ghazb-Lil-Haq: Neutralize terrorists’ sanctuaries

2026-03-09 - 22:13

SINCE the United States troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan has been persuading the de facto Taliban Government in Kabul to end its patronage of the terrorist organizations and abide by its commitments made in the Doha Agreement about preventing terrorist groups from using Afghan soil for perpetrating terrorist acts in any other country. Ironically, instead of ending the sanctuaries of the terrorist organization on its territory, the Taliban Government protects, finances and weaponizes the terrorist groups which have been involved in terrorism in Pakistan. The militant policy of the Taliban has driven both sides toward a dangerous war-like posture. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2650-kilometer border that has long been vulnerable to militant activity, smuggling networks and weapon trafficking. Islamabad had approached Kabul many times to resolve the irritants through peaceful means. It also used the good offices of friendly neighboring and Muslim countries to influence the Afghan Taliban to act rationally and terminate their militant strategy. For instance, in October 2025, after intense clashes at the border, Qatari-Turkish mediation produced a ceasefire between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pakistani-origin terrorist groups, with the connivance of the Afghan Taliban, have unleashed violence against the Pakistani law enforcement agencies and innocent civilians in Pakistan. It was reported that they have killed more than 1300 people in over 800 attacks in Pakistan since 2021. The apparent India-Taliban nexus has increased the mistrust between Kabul and Islamabad. Consequently, it is obvious that the strategic patience while dealing with the Afghan Taliban is counterproductive. After exhausting all kinds of non-kinetic means to dissuade the Afghan Taliban from assisting Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hafiz Gulbahadar group and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) Majeed Brigade, Daesh, al Qaeda, etc, Pakistan has launched Operation Ghazb-Lil-Haq (Righteous Fury) on February 26, 2026. Defence Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Asif said patience had reached its limit and characterized the situation as open war. He seems spot-on because Pakistan cannot afford the continuous targeting of military convoys, police stations, intelligence facilities, mosques, imambarghs, etc. Realistically, Operation Ghazb-Lil-Haq is a difficult and undesirable choice for the Government of Pakistan, but it had no other choice, except for a military operation to extinguish the terrorist sanctuaries and obliterate the ammunition depots, etc., located in Afghanistan. Pakistani defence forces have initiated coordinated air and ground strikes against TTP, BLA, etc., and their protectors and facilitators’ positions in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and Nangarhar, after the announcement by the Afghan Taliban that they launched large-scale offensive operations along multiple border towns. The Government of Pakistan announced that it will continue the precision, intelligence-led operations against critical terrorist hubs and Afghanistan military assets, like the Bagram air base, until it neutralizes cross-border terrorism and secures its national sovereignty. Islamabad manifested that its quarrel is not with the Afghan people, but its target is terrorist safe havens that threaten Pakistani lives. Pakistan’s actions are aimed purely at forcing the Taliban regime to terminate its support for the TTP, BLA, and other terrorist groups operating from the Afghan soil against Pakistan. On March 4, 2026, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir said that peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan could only prevail if the Taliban regime “renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations.” Hence, the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq will continue until Kabul offers verifiable guarantees against terrorism facilitation and compliance with Pakistan’s demand to quit facilitation of Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan. Islamabad has not completely shunned the diplomatic option to restore peace with New Delhi and Kabul. President Asif Ali Zardari, while addressing the joint session of the Parliament on March 2, 2026, stated that Pakistan is prepared to resolve bilateral disputes with India and Afghanistan through dialogue, provided they are willing to engage in dialogue. Otherwise, it has the resolve and capability to guard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. He warned that Pakistan will not tolerate any entity—domestic or foreign—using neighboring territory to destabilize the country. Thus, Islamabad’s offer for dialogue must not be interpreted as a sign of weakness. Pakistan is neither interested in conquering Afghanistan nor in territorial expansion and is not inclined to further contribute to its anarchical situation. The Taliban’s strengths, which are rooted in unconventional and guerrilla-style warfare, cannot compete with Pakistan’s conventional force structure and air power, especially when Islamabad’s objective is too transparent, i.e., neutralize terrorist groups’ sanctuaries next door. The critical question is how long the Taliban regime will take to agree to stop exporting armed violence to Pakistan, despite the latter’s Operation Ghazb-Lil-Haq. Indeed, the protracted warfare is neither in the interest of Afghans nor Pakistanis. Therefore, the ruling elites of both countries act promptly and rationally to terminate the asymmetric warfare and mitigate the trust deficit without compromising their respective national interests. —The writer is Prof at the School of Politics and IR, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. (jaspal_99@hotmail.com)