Pakistan hints at strikes in Afghanistan amid twin Taliban threats

Experts warn of worsening cross-border ties, say U.S. support essential

Pakistani soldiers guard a road leading to Bannu on Dec. 20 where TTP militants took hostages at a counterterrorism center. © Reuters

ZIA UR REHMAN, Contributing writer

January 6, 2023 18:00 JST

KARACHI -- An alarming spate of terrorism has prompted Pakistan to threaten attacks against militant hideouts across the border in Afghanistan and is spurring closer security cooperation between Islamabad and Washington.

Pakistan's National Security Committee, the country's highest civil-military forum, met on Dec. 30 and again this past Monday to assess recent attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed Pakistani jihadi group that helped its Afghan brethren recapture their country as the U.S. withdrew in August 2021.