Inter-Services PR (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar on Friday emphasised that things on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was “normal and under control” while Pakistan’s side was “secure”.
At the outset of his news conference in Rawalpindi, he said he would mention the evolving situation in Afghanistan and therefore the implied national security problems that Pakistan could face, along side the measures the soldiers had taken and would still fancy “ward off any spillover of insecurity and instability into Pakistan”.
Prior to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the military situation within the war-torn country “unfolded rapidly”, he said, adding that Pakistan had already started taking the measures it needed to protect the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and to make sure security.
Pakistan had apprehensions that things would unfold within the way that it did and there might be a “spillover”, which is why it took the steps it did, he elaborated.
He recalled that Pakistan had started “beefing up” its security since 2014, including Operation Zarb-i-Azb and Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad.
“The political and military leadership in Pakistan had the foresight that something like this (Taliban takeover in Afghanistan) could happen. So, despite whatever went on thereon side (Afghanistan), things on the Pak-Afghan border is normal and in check .”
“This doesn’t mean nothing can happen but we are prepared and won’t be caught unaware,” he added.
Giving the timeline of events as they unfolded within the neighbouring country, the DG ISPR said before Assumption — when the Taliban entered Kabul — several soldiers belonging to the Afghan National Army entered Pakistan on quite twice, seeking safe passage because they feared their posts might come under fire by the Taliban.
“They were accepted and given safe passage back under military norms,” he added.
Pakistan’s soldiers “anticipated the way things was getting to unfold and therefore the chance of instability” spilling over and moved troops to big border crossings to make sure control, he said.
“Seventeen out of 78 border crossings were notified [for enhanced deployment] and every one illegal crossing were closed. After Assumption, the terminals and border crossings are kept open. Convoys also are continuously moving on each side .”
Evacuation efforts
The DG ISPR said the second-biggest site for evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan, besides those within the neighbouring country, was in Pakistan.
So far, 113 flights — both military and commercial — have landed in Pakistan from Afghanistan, he added.
“The situation at the Pak-Afghan border is normal and there’s no untoward incident,” he said.
‘Pakistan second-biggest victim of Afghan conflict’
Talking about the impact of the decades-long war within the neighbouring country, Gen Iftikhar noted the “biggest victims” of the conflict, besides Afghans, had been Pakistanis.
“We have faced a huge brunt since the Soviets invaded [Afghanistan] followed by the war. [More than] 86,000 lives are lost [along with] Rs152 billion in economic losses and counting.
“While we were involved during this war on terror during the last 20 years, we’ve had three major escalations on the eastern border. At the height of this era , there have been quite 90 terrorist incidents happening during a year in Pakistan.”
Furthermore, 12,312 ceasefire violations had occurred on Pakistan’s eastern border since 2014, he added.
Giving details of military operations during this era, the DG ISPR said the soldiers conducted 1,237 major and minor operations and cleared quite 46,000 sq km area along the western border against terrorists and their infrastructure.
“With the support of our great nation and LEAs (law enforcement agencies), our soldiers were ready to turn the tide.”
He shared that Pakistan had been reaching bent the Afghan government to formalise a border control mechanism to affect the “instability” along the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan also suggested an intelligence-sharing mechanism, however, the initiatives were “not responded well to”, he said.
Pakistan had also reached out at the military level, he shared. “There were several high-level visits by Pakistan’s military leadership, [including] four visits by the chief of army staff. We offered [to build] a mechanism for intelligence-sharing and training of Afghan soldiers and officers in Pakistan Army institutions.
“We offered it (training) several times but only six cadets came. However, hundreds and thousands of Afghan Army soldiers went for training to India and a number of other Indian Army training teams were placed in Afghanistan to coach forces,” he said.
The reason for creating the offers was because “we believe peace in Afghanistan is directly linked to peace in Pakistan,” he further said.
‘Extremely negative’ Indian role
The DG ISPR said it had been important to know what India’s role had been in Afghanistan. “I think whatever investment they made in Afghanistan and therefore the quite clout they developed, it had been all through with one intention — to harm Pakistan.”
He said India had “poisoned the minds of the Afghan leadership, military and intelligence” due to which “negative statements” regarding Pakistan were made by Afghan leadership whenever Pakistan reached out.
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) was “helping [India’s] Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) cobble up alliances with Daesh (the so-called Islamic State), TTP and terrorist organisations to harm Pakistan”, he added.
“If that they had done their job, they might are prepared to require on what’s happening today so India’s role is extremely negative and that i think the international community must bring India into the dock.”
Spoilers in Afghanistan
He acknowledged that Pakistan had been “repeatedly cautioning the planet about the negative role played by spoilers” in Afghanistan who were continuing to try to to so.
While Pakistan’s soldiers were conducting operations on its western border, there have been “massive” ceasefire violations (CFVs) on its eastern border, he said.
“There was a huge capacity enhancement initiative in 2017; Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa [put forward a] vision of securing the western borders comprehensively. We raised quite 60 new wings for Frontier Corps in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
Along with this, Pakistan took other measures to secure its border, including upgrading technology and surveillance, constructing many border forts and fencing the border, 90 per cent of which had been done, he added.
“After 20 years, we will say we’ve fought off the menace of terrorism alright with the whole-of-nation approach. of these operations are the epitome of insurmountable spirit and supreme sacrifice of the entire nation’s efforts.”
When asked what steps Pakistan would take if the Afghan Taliban couldn’t control Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the DG ISPR said Pakistan had “always maintained that TTP has sanctuaries in Afghanistan with the assistance of spoilers”.
He noted, however, that the Taliban had said they might not let Afghan soil be used against the other country and “we need to take them at their word.”
When asked when Pakistan expected things to normalise, Gen Iftikhar said: “We hope for the simplest . we’ve taken measures and Pakistan will reach out when government-to-government contact is established.”
The DG ISPR said Pakistan expects a “cordial relationship” at the govt level, adding there was “reason to be optimistic”.
Responding to a different question, he said there was no military-to-military contact with other countries for now. However, reports of India using wild animals to attack and conduct surveillance along the road of Control (LoC) were “concerning”, he said.
“I hope the planet holds them liable for stooping so low. We are conscious of those surveillance means and taking our measures to counter that.”
