RAWALPINDI: The Afghan Taliban do not have the capability to absorb the “punishment” Pakistan can inflict in response to threats emanating from Afghanistan, the military’s spokesperson has warned.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Reuters Pakistan possessed the capability to counter threats from the Afghan Taliban, including those involving drones, and was prepared for attempts to test its operational readiness.
“Whatever they want to send, they can; they may try. We have the capability to take them on,” the ISPR DG said in an interview.
“They don’t have, I think, the capability to then absorb the punishment that we can put on them,” he added.
The military spokesperson was responding to a question about the potential threat posed by drones in the hands of the Afghan Taliban and whether Pakistan could face a situation similar to drone threats elsewhere in the region.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said that whatever drone capability the Afghan Taliban possessed was not indigenous, saying that such technology was being supplied by their sponsors.
The ISPR DG said that India is the “biggest terror sponsor” in the context of threats facing Pakistan and added that the Afghan Taliban and terrorist groups operating against Pakistan were acting as Indian proxies.
Referring to Pakistan’s previous conflict with India, he said New Delhi had sent “dozens and dozens” of sophisticated drones, which Pakistan successfully countered.
“We turned them into dust everywhere,” he said, adding that Pakistan had since moved further ahead in terms of its operational readiness.
‘There will be a cost’
The ISPR DG also said that the Afghan Taliban regime is harbouring terrorist leaders and allowing armed groups to operate from Afghan soil against Pakistan.
He said Islamabad was not seeking Afghanistan’s isolation and remained engaged with Kabul, but expected the Afghan Taliban to “act like a state” and prevent terrorism from its territory.
“We only ask you that don’t support terrorism inside Pakistan. Stop harbouring the terrorist leaders,” he said.
The spokesperson said that terrorist formations were coming from Afghanistan and receiving weapons from there, while Afghan citizens and even personnel of the Taliban regime had been found among groups involved in attacks against Pakistan.
“If you do it, then there will be a cost,” he warned. “And we are capable of imposing that cost and we have a clear strategy how to impose that cost.”
He also said that Afghanistan are providing an environment where multiple militant organisations were able to operate, while rejecting allegations that Pakistan was hosting or coordinating anti-Taliban elements.
‘Afghanistan producing terrorism and drugs’
Rejecting the suggestion that Kabul should be isolated, the ISPR DG said the international community and regional countries instead needed to engage the Afghan Taliban and press them to behave like a state.
“What Afghanistan is producing right now, it has only two products: terrorism and drugs,” he said, adding that both posed threats to the region and the wider world.
The spokesperson said Pakistan had no interest in dictating how Afghanistan should be governed, maintaining that this was for Afghans to decide.
He stressed, however, that armed groups, militias and mercenaries could not be tolerated by any state.
Pakistan Army ‘technology-savvy’
Discussing the changing nature of warfare, the ISPR DG said the Pakistan Army was adapting its capabilities to emerging threats across conventional and non-contact warfare, including drones and cyber technologies.
He said the proliferation of non-contact warfare capabilities among non-state actors posed a threat that required countries to reassess their security architecture.
Asked whether the military used artificial intelligence to identify targets in Afghanistan, the spokesperson declined to disclose operational details.
“I cannot go into specifics [about] how we are using AI, how we are using quantum technology, how we are using cyber technology, or how we are using multiple other technologies,” he said.
“But we are using all sorts of technologies. We are a technology-savvy army.”
