RAWALPINDI
\nThe Afghan Taliban do not have the capability to absorb the \u201cpunishment\u201d Pakistan can inflict in response to threats emanating from Afghanistan, the military\u2019s spokesperson has warned.
\nDirector General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Reuters Pakistan possessed the capability to counter threats from the Afghan Taliban, including those involving drones, and was prepared for attempts to test its operational readiness.
\n\u201cWhatever they want to send, they can; they may try. We have the capability to take them on,\u201d the ISPR DG said in an interview.
\n\u201cThey don\u2019t have, I think, the capability to then absorb the punishment that we can put on them,\u201d he added.
\nThe military spokesperson was responding to a question about the potential threat posed by drones in the hands of the Afghan Taliban and whether Pakistan could face a situation similar to drone threats elsewhere in the region.
\nLt Gen Chaudhry said that whatever drone capability the Afghan Taliban possessed was not indigenous, saying that such technology was being supplied by their sponsors.
\nThe ISPR DG said that India is the \u201cbiggest terror sponsor\u201d in the context of threats facing Pakistan and added that the Afghan Taliban and terrorist groups operating against Pakistan were acting as Indian proxies.
\nReferring to Pakistan\u2019s previous conflict with India, he said New Delhi had sent \u201cdozens and dozens\u201d of sophisticated drones, which Pakistan successfully countered.<\/p>\n
\u2018There will be a cost\u2019
\nThe ISPR DG also said that the Afghan Taliban regime is harbouring terrorist leaders and allowing armed groups to operate from Afghan soil against Pakistan.
\nHe said Islamabad was not seeking Afghanistan\u2019s isolation and remained engaged with Kabul, but expected the Afghan Taliban to \u201cact like a state\u201d and prevent terrorism from its territory.
\n\u201cWe only ask you that don\u2019t support terrorism inside Pakistan. Stop harbouring the terrorist leaders,\u201d he said.
\nThe spokesperson said that terrorist formations were coming from Afghanistan and receiving weapons from there, while Afghan citizens and even personnel of the Taliban regime had been found among groups involved in attacks against Pakistan.
\n\u201cIf you do it, then there will be a cost,\u201d he warned. \u201cAnd we are capable of imposing that cost and we have a clear strategy how to impose that cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Afghanistan producing terrorism and drugs\u2019
\nRejecting the suggestion that Kabul should be isolated, the ISPR DG said the international community and regional countries instead needed to engage the Afghan Taliban and press them to behave like a state. \u201cWhat Afghanistan is producing right now, it has only two products: terrorism and drugs,\u201d he said, adding that both posed threats to the region and the wider world.
\nThe spokesperson said Pakistan had no interest in dictating how Afghanistan should be governed, maintaining that this was for Afghans to decide. He stressed, however, that armed groups, militias and mercenaries could not be tolerated by any state.<\/p>\n
Pakistan Army \u2018technology-savvy\u2019
\nDiscussing the changing nature of warfare, the ISPR DG said the Pakistan Army was adapting its capabilities to emerging threats across conventional and non-contact warfare, including drones and cyber technologies.
\nHe said the proliferation of non-contact warfare capabilities among non-state actors posed a threat that required countries to reassess their security architecture.
\nAsked whether the military used artificial intelligence to identify targets in Afghanistan, the spokesperson declined to disclose operational details.
\n\u201cI cannot go into specifics [about] how we are using AI, how we are using quantum technology, how we are using cyber technology, or how we are using multiple other technologies,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cBut we are using all sorts of technologies. We are a technology-savvy army.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RAWALPINDI The Afghan Taliban do not have the capability to absorb the \u201cpunishment\u201d Pakistan can inflict in response to threats emanating from Afghanistan, the military\u2019s spokesperson has warned. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Reuters Pakistan possessed the capability to counter threats from the Afghan Taliban, including those involving …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":105205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105239,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105228\/revisions\/105239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}