What happened
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday 1 March 2026 that Operation Ghazab lil-Haq was continuing, announcing that 415 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 580 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began on Thursday. In a statement posted on X, the minister said the figures reflected the position as of 4pm.
Tarar said Pakistani forces had destroyed 182 Taliban posts, captured 31 others and disabled 185 tanks and armoured personnel carriers. “Air strikes were carried out at 46 locations inside Afghanistan,” he said.
Security sources quoted by Pakistan Today said Pakistani troops crossed the border fence near North Waziristan in daylight on 28 February and advanced on what was described as an Afghan Taliban central post inside Afghan territory, which they then took control of. The sources said the post and surrounding compounds were cleared in what they called a “full-scale retaliatory action”, and that the operation remained ongoing.
How the operation began
Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq after what it called an unprovoked attack by Afghan Taliban forces on Pakistani military installations, in a sharp escalation that followed Pakistani airstrikes on camps of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Islamic State Khorasan Province inside Afghanistan on 21-22 February. Officials said more than 80 militants were killed in those strikes.
The strikes followed a suicide bombing at the Imambargah Khadijah al-Kubra Shia mosque in Islamabad during Friday prayers, which killed 36 people and wounded about 169. Authorities arrested four facilitators in Nowshera and Peshawar and said the network behind the bombing, including a Daesh-linked mastermind, had been trained in Afghanistan. The 27 February declaration of “open war” by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and the initial phase of the operation are covered in KhabarWire’s report on the start of the conflict.
Regional reaction and the domestic picture
The United States expressed support for Pakistan’s “right to defend itself” against attacks from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. A State Department spokesperson called the Taliban a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist group”, and US diplomat Allison Hooker said she had spoken with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, according to The News. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, urged both sides to de-escalate and engage in dialogue.
Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan called the operation a “decisive and befitting response” to attacks on Pakistan’s territorial integrity. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rejected claims circulating in Afghan and some Indian media that a Pakistani fighter jet had been shot down in Nangarhar, saying no Pakistani aircraft had been lost.
Inside Pakistan, authorities in Bajaur announced that 39 public-sector schools in border areas would remain closed until further orders. The closures cover schools in Lowi Mamund, War Mamund and Nawagai tehsils, where public institutions had been due to reopen after winter vacations. Officials also said an unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into a government school building in Ghalanai, the district headquarters of Mohmand, causing no casualties and no significant structural damage. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting in Islamabad that reviewed the regional and internal security situation. President Asif Ali Zardari urged the country’s Hindu community to mark Holi in a simple and restrained manner because of the security situation.
What is still uncertain
The casualty and equipment figures are official Pakistani claims and had not been independently verified in the accounts reviewed here; no corresponding Taliban statement of losses appeared in those reports. An Afghan government spokesperson said explosions heard over Kabul on Sunday were air-defence actions against Pakistani aircraft, according to Independent Pakistan. It was not clear how long the operation would continue, whether Pakistani forces would hold the border post they captured, or when the closed border-area schools would reopen.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-03-02.
- Pakistan Today — 415 Afghan fighters killed, 182 checkposts destroyed as Operation Ghazab lil-Haq rages on: TararPublished 1 March 2026 · Tarar's 4pm casualty and equipment update, the captured Afghan post near North Waziristan, Bajaur school closures and the Mohmand drone crash.
- The News International — US backs Pakistan's right to self-defence against Afghan TalibanPublished 1 March 2026 · US State Department statement, EU call for de-escalation, earlier 331-killed figure and the rejection of the downed-jet claim.
- Independent Pakistan — Pakistan condemns assassination of Iran's supreme leader as breach of international lawPublished 1 March 2026 · The 415-killed and 580-wounded figures, the 21-22 February airstrikes, the Islamabad mosque bombing background and the Kabul air-defence statement.
