When Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived at the military hospital in Bannu in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on September 13, his stoic expression gave way to unmistakable anger.
At least 19 soldiers had died fighting attackers from the armed group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that shares a long and contentious border with Afghanistan.
Flanked by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir to his left, Sharif delivered a blunt message to the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul after the withdrawal of US forces in August 2021, and which he accuses of providing a haven to armed fighters on Afghan soil.
“Today I want to send a clear message to Afghanistan,” he said while speaking to the media outside the hospital. “Choose one of two paths. If they wish to establish relations with Pakistan with genuine goodwill, sincerity and honesty, we are ready for that. But if they choose to side with terrorists and support them, then we will have nothing to do with the Afghan interim government.”
But the violence did not stop. Five more soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle on September 16 in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which also borders Afghanistan. Then, on September 30, a suicide bomb ripped through Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, killing at least 10 people and wounding 32.
