Flashpoints | Security | South Asia

Pakistan Strikes TTP and ISKP Camps in Afghanistan

Islamabad is now increasingly claiming that these groups pose a threat not just to Pakistan but to the world.

On February 22, Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan, targeting suspected camps and hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP).

According to Pakistan, these groups are behind a spate of recent attacks, including a deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad on February 6, and the killing of a senior military officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the country’s military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps and hideouts of the TTP and its affiliates based in Afghanistan. The Pakistani ministry said it had conclusive evidence that recent attacks in Islamabad were perpetrated by militants at the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has criticized the attacks and vowed to respond at an appropriate time. “We will respond to these attacks in due course with a measured and appropriate response,” the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense said.

Pakistan’s decision to conduct these airstrikes inside Afghanistan marks a significant escalation in its strategy to deal with the TTP and other anti-Pakistan groups, as it breaks a period of relative de-escalation between the two countries under the October 2025 ceasefire, which was mediated by Qatar and Türkiye. However, the mediation by these countries failed to convince the Taliban regime to give up their support for the TTP or to agree to a ceasefire monitoring mechanism involving Pakistan and Afghanistan.

For Islamabad, the ceasefire was merely symbolic as Pakistani officials have maintained for months that the Taliban have shown no willingness to cease support for the TTP or evict the group from Afghan soil. Consequently, attacks from TTP on Pakistan have not only continued but have grown in intensity in recent weeks.

It is pertinent to mention that the recent Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan came hours after a suicide bomber attacked a security convoy in the Bannu district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing two soldiers, including a senior military officer. Last week, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a security post in Bajaur, killing 11 soldiers. Earlier, on February 6, another suicide bomber targeted a mosque in Islamabad. The attack........

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