By Khushal Khan

When a nation loses nearly 5,000 citizens to cross-border terrorism in just four years, when American-supplied weapons meant for Afghanistan end up killing Pakistani soldiers and civilians, and when a neighboring power actively fuels this chaos through proxy forces-- what options remain except the fundamental right to self-defense?

This is the stark reality confronting Pakistan as it prosecutes Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, a military campaign now entering its fourth week against terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan. But beneath the surface of precision airstrikes and tactical victories lies a complex web of international complicity, propaganda warfare, and a desperate regime in Kabul willing to burn its own citizens to manufacture sympathy.

The current escalation did not occur in a vacuum. On February 21, Pakistan struck Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in Nangarhar, Khost, and Paktika, destroying key locations and killing approximately 70 TTP terrorists. These were not indiscriminate attacks -- they were targeted operations against a group that has sworn to overthrow the Pakistani state and has killed thousands of its citizens.

The Afghan Taliban's response was swift and revealing. Rather than distance themselves from a terrorist organization dedicated to attacking a neighboring country, they announced they would take revenge for the TTP. Within days, Afghan Taliban forces launched attacks on Pakistani border posts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

This single decision laid bare the true nature of the relationship between Kabul's rulers and the TTP. The Afghan Taliban is not a neutral party in Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts -- it is an active supporter, facilitator, and now participant in attacks on Pakistani territory.

- The India Factor

What makes the current situation particularly volatile is the growing evidence of Indian involvement in arming and enabling these terrorist networks. Pakistan has long alleged that India views instability on Pakistan's western border as a strategic asset -- a way to keep Islamabad occupied and bleeding without direct military confrontation.

Following Pakistan's decisive defeat of India in the brief May 2025 conflict, this strategy appears to have intensified. Intelligence reports indicate that large quantities of Israeli and Indian drones and missiles have been supplied to Afghan Taliban forces specifically to engage Pakistan on its western border.

The logic is clear: India cannot defeat Pakistan conventionally, so it seeks to destabilize it through terror proxies, including the TTP, BLA, and others -- all operating with full support from the Afghan Taliban regime. For New Delhi, every Pakistani soldier martyrdom by an Indian-supplied drone is a victory won without risking a single Indian life.

- Seven Billion Dollars of American Weapons in Terrorist Hands

When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, it left behind approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment. Much of it fell into Taliban hands. Today, those American rifles, night-vision goggles, armored vehicles, and communications equipment are being used to hit Pakistani soldiers and civilians.

Pakistan has struck around 80 locations over the past three weeks, targeting warehouses and storage facilities where Taliban forces have stockpiled this American weaponry alongside newly arrived Indian and Israeli hardware. The secondary explosions visible in footage from these strikes confirm the presence of large ammunition depots -- not civilian facilities.

Last week's strike on Bagram Airbase destroyed a significant hub of Israeli drone technology. According to Afghan officials speaking on condition of anonymity, Indian and Israeli engineers were also killed in that attack -- a revelation that, if confirmed, would represent a significant escalation in foreign involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

- Hospital Bombing and Reality

On March 16, when Pakistan struck targets in Kabul, the world saw massive flames rising into the sky as weapons depots detonated. The Afghan Taliban immediately claimed that Pakistan had bombed a drug rehabilitation hospital, killing 400 innocent addicts.

But the narrative began unraveling almost immediately.

Staff at the hospital told reporters that Pakistani jets had struck a compound approximately 200 meters away -- a military weapons base belonging to the Taliban. The hospital itself was not hit. According to multiple eyewitnesses, including a security guard and a doctor, militants entered the facility approximately half an hour after the nearby strikes and set it on fire using chemicals.

Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, in his latest video statement, directly accused the Taliban of burning down the drug addict hospital themselves to defame Pakistan and gain international sympathy.

Local journalists who finally gained access to the site found "no traces of blood or significant structural damage" -- only minor fire effects consistent with a blaze set after the fact.

- AI Images and the Death of Credibility

Perhaps most damaging to the Taliban's case has been their reliance on manifestly fake evidence. Spokesmen Zabihullah Mujahid and Hamdullah Fitrat both posted AI-generated images on social media showing hundreds of people, claiming they were victims of a Pakistani bombing.

This marks the second time in days that Taliban officials have used AI-generated visuals to allege civilian casualties. When a government's official spokesmen resort to fabricating images to support their claims, they forfeit any right to be believed.

The world now faces a simple question: If the Taliban is willing to generate fake images of victims, what else are they willing to fabricate? And if they are willing to set fire to a hospital housing drug addicts to manufacture a propaganda victory -- as multiple witnesses now allege -- what does that say about the regime ruling Afghanistan?

- How Will the World Trust the Taliban?

The credibility crisis facing the Afghan Taliban could not be more complete. In just the past month, they have:

1- Claimed to have shot down a Pakistani jet and captured its pilot -- then admitted it was "not true" when asked for evidence

2- Posted AI-generated images of civilian casualties that fact-checkers quickly exposed

3- Barred international media from strike sites while allowing only select outlets controlled access

4- Arrested at least ten Afghan citizens for documenting and sharing footage of strike sites

5- Issued orders threatening arrest for anyone filming or sharing information without authorization

When a government's official spokesmen cannot be believed, when their "evidence" is manufactured by artificial intelligence, when they arrest their own citizens for seeking truth -- that government has lost all claim to international trust or legitimacy.

- Pakistan's Right to Self-Defense

Amid this fog of propaganda and denial, one fact remains undeniable: Pakistan has the right to defend itself and its citizens against cross-border terrorism.

Nearly 5,000 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist attacks over the past four years -- attacks planned and launched from Afghan soil, using American weapons left behind, now supplemented by Indian and Israeli hardware. The TTP, BLA, and other terrorist groups operate with impunity from Afghanistan, protected and supported by the very regime that claims to want peace.

When diplomacy fails, when international appeals go unanswered, when terrorists continue killing with impunity -- military action becomes not a choice but an obligation.

Pakistani officials say Operation Ghazab Lil Haq will continue until Pakistan's desired objectives are fully achieved. And as long as the Afghan Taliban harbors, supports, and fights alongside terrorists dedicated to killing Pakistanis, those objectives will include dismantling the infrastructure of terror wherever it exists -- even across the border.

The world may choose to believe Taliban propaganda or AI-generated images. But Pakistan will choose to protect its people. In the end, that is the only choice that matters.