On Sunday, Pakistan’s military announced that they had killed 54 militants attempting to enter the country from Afghanistan, revealing the difficulties they face on several fronts, especially with rising tensions with India.
This operation targeting militants from Afghanistan occurred over the weekend in North Waziristan, a secluded area along Pakistan’s northwestern border, according to military sources.
Pakistani forces tracked the movement of a sizeable group of militants and successfully neutralized all of them, seizing a stash of weapons and explosives in the process.
The reported deaths are unusually high, especially considering the ongoing struggles against instability along the Afghanistan border since the U.S. withdrew its military support nearly four years ago, allowing the Taliban to regain power.
The banned organization Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (T.T.P.) has ramped up assaults on Pakistan’s security personnel, straining the relationship between Pakistan’s government and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of sheltering and aiding T.T.P. fighters, which the Taliban strongly refute.
In addition, the Pakistani government is grappling with a rising and deadly insurgency from Baluch separatists in the southwest. Meanwhile, on the eastern front, Pakistani forces have been put on alert as India seems poised for military actions following a recent terrorist incident in Kashmir.
Unlike during past crises, Pakistan no longer benefits from the strong U.S. military backing that was available throughout the 20-year presence of American forces in Afghanistan. This shift has placed the military in one of its toughest situations in years.
Officials indicate that they are preparing for a prolonged period of engaging with seasoned militants in the west and southwest, as well as facing potential conventional conflicts with nuclear-capable India to the east.
Abdul Basit, a senior research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, mentioned that the killing of the 54 militants from Afghanistan highlights both a success and a challenge for the Pakistani military, which finds itself caught between pressures from both its eastern and western borders. “India will continue to hold the possibility of military action over Pakistan, stretching the military to its limits,” Mr. Basit noted.
