Pakistan to fight on in Afghanistan until militants cleared

Tooba Khan, Bloomberg News on Mar 4, 2026

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Pakistan is in “no hurry” to end its military operation in Afghanistan, a senior security official said, vowing to continue fighting until it’s certain it’s destroyed militant groups targeting the country from across the border.

The duration of the operation depends on “actions on the ground” by Afghanistan’s Taliban government in rooting out the militant groups, the official said in a text message to reporters on Tuesday, asking not to be identified to discuss security matters. Pakistan wants “verifiable assurance” that the militants are no longer operating there, the official said.

The two sides are now in their seventh day of fighting, with dozens killed, after the Taliban government launched retaliatory attacks last week against Pakistan air strikes on militant targets earlier. Pakistan declared “open war” with Afghanistan and began hitting military and other facilities deeper into the country, including in the capital Kabul.

Islamabad has consistently accused the Taliban of supporting the militants, claims denied by the government in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s government, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have shown resolve “to end this menace” of terrorism, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said at a news briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Islamabad was targeting militant sanctuaries and facilitation infrastructure, not civilians, the security official said. So far, about 180 locations used to launch militant attacks have been destroyed and over 30 captured.

Pakistan isn’t seeking a regime change in Afghanistan, the official said, with the campaign focused on the militant groups.

Separately, Pakistan had to quash deadly protests on Sunday erupting from the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in coordinated attacks by the U.S. and Israel. At least 24 people were killed in these protests outside several U.S. consulates across the country, prompting authorities to impose a curfew in some regions.

Pakistan’s KSE-30 index fell the most on record that prompted a trading halt earlier this week.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have steadily broken down in the years since the return of the Afghan Taliban in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

Pakistan had initially backed the Taliban takeover, betting that the new government would help rein in Islamist militants operating in Pakistan. Instead, those militants, known as the Pakistani Taliban, have stepped up their insurgency in across the country. Islamist militants have also stepped up attacks in Islamabad, with a bomb blast at a mosque in the capital killing at least 31 people earlier this month.