For years, Pakistan exercised restraint in dealing with the authorities in Afghanistan. It relied on backchannel diplomacy, intelligence sharing and border fencing to contain the threat posed by the banned TTP. But the recent wave of high-profile terrorist attacks inside Pakistan appears to have altered Islamabad's calculus decisively.

In an unprecedented move, Pakistan conducted massive air strikes deep inside the Afghan territory, targeting what it described as Taliban military bases used to facilitate cross-border terrorist attacks. The strikes, in response to the Afghan Taliban's simultaneous attacks on Pakistan army checkposts, hit multiple locations, including Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar and Khost. Never before has Pakistan struck at such scale and depth inside Afghanistan.

The message is unmistakable: the era of patience is over. At the heart of the escalating tensions lies the TTP issue. The TTP, ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban, has found safe haven across the border. Since the Taliban........

© The Express Tribune