By Saif al-Din
Recent developments in the region, and specifically in Afghanistan’s geopolitical stability, have made clear that yesterday’s successful and unprecedented military operation was not simply an ordinary tactical response or another episode in a series of border skirmishes. Rather, it signals something far larger, deeper, and more fundamental in Kabul’s military and political thinking.
For a long time, the military regime’s aggressive generals followed a plan that allowed them to carry out criminal strikes against our pure and Islamic soil, killing many civilians, innocent children, and honorable women, and destroying public infrastructure. But because the IEA’s foreign and security policy was built on patience, wisdom, and the principles of good neighborliness, every effort was made until now to respond to any provocations through diplomatic channels.
Yesterday’s operations proved, however, that no one can exploit Kabul’s patience and forbearance any longer, and no one has the right to interpret the IEA’s wise decisions as fear or weakness. The old defensive posture has been completely abandoned. The new security position is that the IEA no longer waits for the enemy to strike or threaten first. Any potential or intelligence-based threat will be detected before it materializes and neutralized at its root. This new and decisive stance is a direct, game-changing message to Pakistan and to the Daesh fitna being bred under their umbrella.
Given this new shift, we must be clear-eyed about one fact: yesterday’s strike was not a limited, emotional, or reactive act of revenge against past incidents. If it had been just a simple response, it would have ended after a specific strike. The reality is that this operation marks the formal beginning of a systematic, planned, and sustained campaign to uproot every threat directed against Afghanistan’s Islamic and sacred soil.
We are now in a new offensive phase in which the IEA is taking the initiative and control of the war into its own hands. This campaign of strikes against all centers for funding, equipping, and training the enemy will continue repeatedly until every possible threat to Afghanistan’s stability is completely eliminated.
To carry out such a sweeping and decisive offensive strategy, high military readiness and technical superiority were naturally required, and the IEA’s forces demonstrated unmatched technological and intelligence capability in yesterday’s operations, and that is the clearest proof of it.
Striking newly identified and hidden intelligence targets deep inside a neighboring country that has always taken pride in its modern radar systems and advanced air defense systems is a genuine military achievement. The IEA’s forces managed to conduct operations using modern drones with such skill and stealth that Pakistan’s most expensive defense network failed to detect them, catching the enemy completely off guard at a moment when it never expected a strike of this quality. This victory and the breaking of the enemy’s arrogant defense systems are truly worthy of the highest praise.
In sum, yesterday’s operations have made one reality clear forever. Today’s powerful and organized Afghanistan is not the unstable country of past decades, and the architects of the region’s intelligence wars need to wake up. The current system has the firm will, the advanced military means, and the offensive strength to protect its territorial integrity and the security of its people.
This strike was therefore only the first lightning bolt of the great storms that could, in the days ahead, shake the very foundations of Afghanistan’s enemies. For the countries of the region, the only path to survival is to respect the principles of neighborliness and to abandon all open and covert support for the Daesh fitna.