News
January 09, 2026
Pakistan Reports Decline in Militancy after Punitive Measures against Afghanistan
Islamabad: Incidents of militant violence in Pakistan have notably decreased since October last year after Islamabad took punitive measures against neighboring Afghanistan, including border closures and strikes against suspected militant hideouts, the Pakistani military said on Tuesday.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan and India of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), to operate on its soil and backing them in attacks against Pakistan.
The surge in militant violence in Pakistan triggered one of the worst skirmishes between Pakistan and Afghanistan in October last year, after Islamabad hit what it called TTP targets inside Afghanistan. Pakistan has since suspended all trade with Afghanistan, despite a ceasefire reached between the neighbors in Doha on Oct 19.
Speaking at a press conference, Pakistani military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry highlighted Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts and said security forces had conducted 75,175 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) last year, killing 2,597 militants.
“There were 761 terrorism incidents reported across Pakistan in 2021, while the number went up to 5,397 in 2025,” he said. “Before Oct 2025, there were 540 terror incidents occurring monthly, but the number has come down to 469 per month after Pakistan took strong measures.”
The military spokesman accused Kabul of violating a 2020 Doha agreement with the United States (US) that outlined a phased US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban’s security guarantees and commitments against militancy among other things.
Chaudhry said the incidents of militant violence in Pakistan had steadily increased since the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021, adding that many militants involved in major incidents in Pakistan were of Afghan origins. Pakistan has also repatriated 1.96 million Afghan refugees in a drive against illegal foreigners that began in late 2023, he added.
“According to a UN report, about 20 terrorist groups are operating in Afghanistan,” Chaudhry said, adding that these groups were also targeting countries like China, Iran and Tajikistan.
Chaudhry also accused India of collaborating with Afghanistan-based militant groups to orchestrate attacks inside Pakistan, saying that Islamabad is fully prepared to defend itself against any aggression from either side. New Delhi did not immediately respond to the statement.
“Pakistan wants a verifiable mechanism from Afghanistan to ensure no terrorists cross into Pakistan,” he reiterated.
‘Landmark’ Year
Chaudhry described 2025 as a “landmark” year in the country’s long-running fight against militancy even as violence claimed the lives of 1,235 civilians and law-enforcement personnel.
According to military data presented at the briefing, Pakistan recorded 5,397 militant incidents nationwide during the year. The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province accounted for 3,811 attacks, while 1,557 incidents were reported in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
Chaudhry said an “exceptionally high number” of counterterrorism missions were carried out in 2025, averaging more than 200 intelligence-based operations per day.
“The past year was a landmark and consequential one in the war against terrorism,” he said. “This year, complete alignment was achieved between the Pakistani state and the public on the issue of terrorism.”
He rejected allegations of civilian harm during counterterrorism operations, saying Pakistani forces had caused no “collateral damage” while carrying out actions against militants.
‘Politically Conducive Environment’
The military spokesman criticized the provincial government of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which is ruled by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“Out of total 5,397 terrorist incidents in 2025, 71 percent occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” he said, attributing this number to what he called a “politically conducive environment” in the province.
Chaudhry reaffirmed the military’s commitment to protecting Pakistan’s sovereignty and national integrity, saying security forces would continue their operations in KP under the federal government’s mandate despite Provincial Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s opposition to military campaigns.
He praised the Balochistan government for taking steps to curb the root causes of militancy, sharing that a crackdown on smuggled Iranian oil has increased provincial revenues by 82 percent. - Arab News
Dawn adds: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Tuesday that Afghans were involved in major “high-impact” terror incidents in Pakistan in 2025.
At the outset of the press conference, the military’s spokesperson said that the purpose of the briefing was to give a comprehensive overview of counter-terrorism measures taken in the past year.
This “is the only purpose of this press conference, and I would request that we remain focused on counter-terrorism as terrorism is the biggest threat that is being faced by the state of Pakistan,” he added…
Lieutenant General Chaudhry highlighted that in 2025, the world acknowledged Pakistan’s stance and narrative regarding terrorism, particularly Afghanistan becoming a “base for terrorist operations”.
Moreover, he added that the past year also demonstrated “how the National Action Plan (NAP) was reinvigorated and how it was being implemented”.
In this connection, he also mentioned that the vision for Azm-i-Istehkam — a counter-terrorism operation launched by the military in 2024 — was drawn from the revised NAP, and that all political parties and segments of society had reached a consensus on the necessity of implementing the NAP to eliminate terrorism.
He acknowledged, however, that “there are still deficiencies, and there is a lot of room for improvement” in the implementation of the NAP.
After outlining these four factors as the reasons behind declaring 2025 a “landmark and consequential year” in counter-terrorism, the DG ISPR went on to discuss them in detail…
The military spokesperson elaborated that modern US equipment worth $7.2bn was left behind in Afghanistan. It included night-vision devices, high-powered sniper rifles, body armor and other personal protection equipment, M-4 and M-16 assault rifles — “the best of weapons and ammunition”.
This equipment was “available to the Afghan Taliban, in the black market, to all these terrorist organizations”.
Moreover, the political party in power in Pakistan in 2021 began “internally facilitating terrorists” and decided to hold talks with them while a “great game was being played in Afghanistan.”
This was seemingly a reference to talks held between the then-Pakistan government and the TTP.
The DG ISPR went on to say that “once you give them terrorists so much space and so much wherewithal, you see a rise in terror incidents.”
By 2023, he added, that state began standing against them.
Lieutenant General Chaudhry referred to a speech by the army chief following a blast in a mosque in Police Lines, Peshawar, in 2023, adding that on that occasion, the army chief gave clarity on terrorism. “Entire Pakistan has that clarity now.”
Further elaborating on this “clarity,” he used strong language, saying that terrorists had no religious association; they had to be eliminated, and action had to be taken against them.
“But it takes time. Because if you have to fight them, you have to equip yourself, train yourself, adopt the right technology, build the narrative, and take the nation along.
“You saw this last year, which I said was a consequential and landmark year, when the tide started turning.”
The military spokesperson acknowledged that questions were also raised about the large number of terror incidents: 5,397 in 2025.
“Yes, this is a big number. Why? Because we are engaging them everywhere. We are conducting 75,000 IBOs, 206 per day, and we are taking them on.”
“By ‘we,’ I mean myself, you, and everyone in Pakistan. We have absolute clarity that we have to win this fight, not by appeasement, but by force and strength. There are a few things in life worth fighting for, where fighting is not only justified but necessary, and there is no alternative.”
Back to Pakistanlink Home