Afghan envoy demarched over Karachi terrorist attack

Foreign Office protests use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism following retaliatory military operations.

Pakistan has summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires to lodge a formal protest over the recent terrorist assault on a Pakistan Rangers camp in Karachi, the Foreign Office announced on Monday. The diplomatic action followed closely on the heels of retaliatory military operations conducted by Islamabad against militant safe havens across the border.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Afghan diplomat was called in to receive a strong demarche regarding the continuous utilisation of Afghan territory to plan and execute terrorist activities inside Pakistan. Concurrently, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, delivered an identical demarche directly to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi explained that the official protest was grounded in clear evidence demonstrating that Afghan nationals, including a militant captured alive at the scene, participated in the Karachi raid. The statement emphasized that these findings provide further proof that Afghan soil and citizens are consistently leveraged to orchestrate violence within Pakistan.

This diplomatic confrontation took place shortly after Islamabad disclosed details of Operation Ghazb Lil Haq, an intelligence-led campaign involving precision airstrikes and ground actions against the outlawed factions Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al Khawarij. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar reported that a ground operation was first executed in the Bajaur district on 28 June, neutralising high-value commander Khan Farosh, alias Zabal, along with three other operatives.

Subsequently, during the night of 28 and 29 June, targeted strikes eliminated three militant facilities in the Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan. The minister confirmed that these cross-border strikes killed 25 terrorists and obliterated significant caches of stored weaponry and ammunition. In total, the coordinated actions resulted in the deaths of 29 militants.

The state’s military response was triggered by a succession of recent insurgent strikes across Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and the specific perimeter breach attempt in Karachi, which authorities have categorised as an organised campaign backed by foreign sponsors. While the spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan remains dedicated to maintaining regional peace, it affirmed that public safety will not be compromised. This fresh escalation is expected to heighten bilateral friction between Islamabad and Kabul, as Pakistan continues to blame the interim Afghan Taliban administration for tolerating anti-Pakistan militant groups, allegations that Kabul routinely denies.