After China’s warning, Pakistan threatens Afghanistan-based TTP with drone strikes

China’s warning that further investment hinges on an improved security situation likely acted as a catalyst, analysts say

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A member of Pakistani security personnel stands guard as police check people and vehicles in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on June 25. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:00pm, 7 Jul 2024

Pakistan is gearing up for a new chapter in its shadow war with Taliban insurgents, vowing a barrage of retaliatory air strikes across the border into Afghanistan.

Stung by a surge of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks in recent months, Pakistan’s defence chief Khawaja Mohammed Asif has put the militant group on notice.

“We won’t serve them with cake and pastries. If attacked, we’ll attack back,” he said on Tuesday in a BBC interview, publicly acknowledging for the first time Pakistan’s responsibility for a handful of previously unclaimed drone strikes on TTP camps in Afghanistan dating back to 2021.

But before it unleashes its drones again, Islamabad must first overcome widespread public opposition to its counterterrorism campaign – especially in the border regions, which will bear the brunt of any flare-up of fighting.

Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), locals dread being displaced en masse in a grim repeat of 2007 to 2016 – the last time the military clashed with the TTP – when tanks, artillery and warplanes reduced their homes and livelihoods to rubble.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has repeatedly tried to calm fears about a devastating military operation. Photo: Pakistan’s Press Information Department/Handout via AFP

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office has repeatedly tried to calm fears about a devastating military operation. Sharif and Defence Minister Asif insist large-scale offensives won’t be necessary this time around. Unlike before, they claim the TTP no longer holds territory or operates “no-go zones” within Pakistan.