Originating from Afghanistan, driven by unprovoked aggression, waves of terrorism refuse to die off, forcing Pakistan to launch Operation Ghazab lil Haq near the end of February.

Pakistan had put two choices in front of the Kabul regime. First, take decisive action against militants who had been using Afghan soil to attack Pakistan. Second, face retributive retaliation. By all indications, the Kabul regime opted for the latter.

The challenge confronting Pakistan is that the Kabul regime is neither a regular, conventional government nor an elected one. Instead, it is a hodgepodge of disparate militant groups claiming together ascendancy to Kabul by dint of enjoying a monopoly over the barrel of the gun. Their major shared claims are that they weathered the foreign troops on Afghan land and that they sacrificed the blood of kin and next of kin to reach this day. The blood spilt in due course offers the main entitlement. Their major success is survival: they have survived to see the light of freedom from foreign occupation.

Even donating the word “government” to the Kabul regime is unnecessary because the ruling apparatus lacks any experience of running a government for two decades (2001–2021). The hiatus of twenty years living in the wilderness, away from a disciplined and punctual life, is quite damning—explanatory in its own right. As stranded subjects, they did not learn how to be a shadow government, preparing themselves for running any next show. Instead, they had no idea when the foreign occupation would end.........

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