At least eight Afghan Taliban soldiers, including two key commanders, have been killed in the recent exchange of mortar fire in the Shorko area of Kurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where at least five Pak security personnel and seven Afghan Taliban were injured. The exchange over the weekend, also injured 16 Afghan Taliban soldiers. This incident is just one in a series of violent confrontations that reflect the deep-seated issues plaguing the two nations.
The Kurram-Khost border area has recently witnessed repeated clashes between Pak forces and Afghan Talibans, much of which stems from Pakistan’s own destabilizing policies in Afghanistan. Terrorists like the TTP, which Pakistan’s military leadership once supported, have now turned on their creators.
Islamabad’s attempt to stem the rise of the TTP has been a patchwork of inconsistent policies—ranging from negotiations to military operations, border fencing, and mass expulsions of Afghan refugees. While the Paki establishment accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering TTP terrorists, the root cause of these issues can be traced back to Pakistan’s own duplicity. The very extremists it once armed and supported to wage proxy wars are now threatening its own stability.
The erection of a border fence and the mass expulsion of Afghan refugees—over 500,000 last October, with plans to deport another 800,000—are desperate attempts by Pakistan to control the blowback of its failed policies.
Despite these efforts, the TTP continues to launch cross-border attacks, exposing the futility of Islamabad’s military-centric approach. By weaponizing extremist factions, Rawalpindi has lost control of the monster it created.