Islamabad
\nThe Foreign Office (FO) on Monday confirmed that Pakistan carried out \u201cintelligence-based anti-terrorist operations\u201d inside the border regions of Afghanistan, hours after Kabul said airstrikes conducted on its soil had killed eight people.
\nA press release from the FO said the prime targets of the operation conducted in the morning earlier today were terrorists belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, adding that the outfit, along with the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, resulting in \u201cdeaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials\u201d.
\nThe FO added that the latest attack of such an instance took place on Saturday at a security post in Mir Ali in North Waziristan which claimed the lives of seven Pakistani soldiers.
\nThe strikes come a day after President Asif Ali Zardari vowed retaliation following the martyrdom of the seven soldiers, including two officers, in the Saturday attack.
\nOffering the funeral prayers of the two officers, he had asserted that the blood of the martyrs would not go in vain and the country would avenge them. The president said Pakistan would not hesitate to strike back if attacked by anyone at borders or inside its territory.
\nThe Hafiz Gul Bahadar group had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in North Waziristan. Security officials say that fighters of the Gul Bahadar group operate from the Afghan side of the border, mostly from Khost.
\nThe strikes come amid growing contact between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban rulers in recent days.
\nPakistan\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires in Kabul travelled to Kandahar last week to meet Mullah Shirin Akhund, the Taliban governor for southern Kandahar who is one of the close confidants of the Taliban chief.
\n\u2018Pakistan had repeatedly conveyed concerns to Afghan authorities\u2019
\nThe FO statement said that over the years, \u201cPakistan has repeatedly conveyed its serious concerns to the interim Afghan government over the presence of terror outfits, including TTP, inside Afghanistan. These terrorists pose a grave threat to Pakistan\u2019s security and have consistently used Afghan territory to launch terror attacks inside Pakistani territory.\u201d
\nThe FO said Pakistan accorded \u201cprime importance\u201d to Afghanistan\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity and therefore, always prioritised dialogue and cooperation to confront the terrorist threat.
\n\u201cWe have repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete and effective action to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan. We have also called on them to deny safe havens to TTP and to hand over its leadership to Pakistan.
\n\u201cPakistan has great respect for the people of Afghanistan. However, certain elements among those in power in Afghanistan are actively patronising TTP and using them as a proxy against Pakistan. Such an approach against a brotherly country, which stood with the people of Afghanistan through thick and thin, manifests shortsightedness. It ignores the support extended by Pakistan to the people of Afghanistan over the last several decades.
\n\u201cWe urge these elements in power to rethink the policy of siding with khwarij terrorists shedding the blood of innocent Pakistanis and to make a clear choice to stand with the people of Pakistan,\u201d the FO said.
\nIt concluded that terrorist groups such as the TTP were a collective threat to regional peace and security, adding that it fully realised the challenge Afghan authorities faced in combating the threat posed by TTP.
\nThe FO said Pakistan would continue to work towards finding joint solutions in countering terrorism and to prevent any terrorist organisation from sabotaging bilateral relations with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday confirmed that Pakistan carried out \u201cintelligence-based anti-terrorist operations\u201d inside the border regions of Afghanistan, hours after Kabul said airstrikes conducted on its soil had killed eight people. A press release from the FO said the prime targets of the operation conducted in the morning earlier today were terrorists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-394644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n