‘Our intelligence was correct’: DG ISPR says Pakistan hit ammunition storage site in Kabul strike

He made the remarks while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’.

The military’s spokesperson stated that the public needed to understand the context behind Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, which was launched against the Afghan Taliban last month, specifically that it was not a “standalone” military campaign, but rather a part of Pakistan’s ongoing war against terrorism.

“This war has been imposed upon Pakistan by terrorists and their sponsors,” he said. He said that it was common knowledge that India was behind terrorism in Pakistan and was using Afghanistan as “a base of operations”.

He said that Afghanistan had acted as a base of operations for every act of terrorism in Pakistan, pointing to the suicide bombing in an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai area.

“Innocent children, people and worshippers were killed during Friday prayers. Where did the terrorist come from? Afghanistan,” DG ISPR said.

“In the Wana Cadet College attack, five terrorists were killed, and all of them were Afghans … Our police and people are under attack, and where are these terrorists coming from? They are coming from Afghanistan,” he said.

DG ISPR added that terrorist leaders, such as Noor Wali Mehsud, Bashir Zeb and Gul Bahadur were “being hidden” in Afghan territory.

“We have not imposed any war upon Afghanistan; The war on terror has been imposed on us,” he asserted.

“We have no issues with our Afghan brothers and sisters, absolutely not. They are themselves oppressed by the Afghan Taliban regime,” he said.

Outlining the operation’s “immediate context”, the DG ISPR said that last month, multiple terrorist hideouts along the Pak-Afghan border were struck. He added that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was struck, not Afghans.

“They (Afghan Taliban) then struck. They hit 53 locations in Pakistan and our posts along the border,” he stated. “Everyone [must know] that they initiated it and we responded, and we are going to take them to task.”

He added that 81 locations in Afghanistan were targeted in airstrikes to eliminate “terrorist support infrastructure”, such as corps and brigade headquarters, ammunition dumps, storage sites and other facilities enabling terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil.

“When these strikes take place, the information ministry immediately provides regular updates and video clips,” he explained.

“If you examine the clips, they pinpoint targeting hangars, tunnels and headquarters, which are being provided by the Afghan Taliban regime, which is the master terror proxy,” he said.

Speaking about the strike in Kabul, DG ISPR said that there was an ammunition and drone storage site, which was targeted. He added that there was video footage of the strike, which was publicly available.

“We hit that … if you strike ammunition, there are secondary detonations. Our intelligence was correct; we hit an ammunition storage site, so the ammunition exploded,” he said.

“When it did, people in Kabul saw the explosion and fireballs, which lasted for some time. Old missiles like Russian Scud missiles, ammunition, drones and equipment exploded. That is what we struck.”

He added, “The record is there, the visuals are there, the after effects of that strike are there, which all confirm that we struck an ammunition site.”

DG ISPR added that precision-guided munitions (PGMs) were used in strikes, as opposed to cheaper general-purpose bombs, which could cause greater collateral damage.

“We are being very careful. We are using PGMs directly where the terrorist support infrastructure is. That is what we used over here,” he added, referring to the Kabul strike.

He also highlighted the Afghan Taliban’s lack of credibility.

“There is no credibility to their claims; the world knows it, we know it. They make claims and then delete them. They are discredited and liars,” he said.

“Has anyone asked how someone can set up a drug rehabilitation centre around an ammunition depot where you store weapons? Is there a hospital anywhere in the world which has been built next to an ammunition store?” he asked.

Lt Gen Chaudhry said that the rehabilitation centre was a “military containerised structure”.

“That was a military containerised structure in which they probably kept suicide bombers who were being trained, or they were hiding terrorists, or housing Afghan Taliban fighters.

“I don’t know what was in there. That was not our target, but if they claim that there were drug addicts at the site, then this is an old habit of theirs where they use drug addicts as suicide bombers, and it was most likely some training facility,” he said.