Peshawar: In a significant operation, security personnel and Pakistan Customs at the Torkham border crossing successfully thwarted an attempt to smuggle a cache of made-in-the-USA weapons from Afghanistan into Pakistan on Wednesday.
During the inspection of a vehicle traveling from Afghanistan, authorities discovered a concealed arsenal of the latest US-made weapons, including M4 and Kalashnikov rifles, rifle grenades, night vision sights, laser bombs, and thousands of bullets— ingeniously hidden within bags of onions.
The driver of the vehicle has been apprehended and taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Officials hope to extract crucial information regarding the origin and intended destination of the weapons through the ongoing investigation.
This incident follows closely on the heels of a devastating terrorist attack in Dera Ismail Khan, claiming the lives of 23 soldiers. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a group affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.
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In response, Pakistan has demanded the Taliban government in Afghanistan to apprehend and surrender the individuals responsible for the heinous attack. This latest discovery of a large quantity of US-made weapons at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border raises questions about the claims made by the Taliban’s interim government, asserting that Afghan soil is not being used against Pakistan.
Despite assurances, Islamabad has been urging Kabul to take concrete actions against the TTP and halt the cross-border trafficking of weapons. The recent seizure aligns with Pakistan’s consistent sharing of evidence highlighting the involvement of Afghan nationals in acts of terrorism and the use of US weapons.
Security forces have seized similar caches in recent months during intelligence-based or clearance operations. It is estimated that US-manufactured weapons, valued at $7.12 billion, were left in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August 2021, raising concerns about their potential misuse in regional conflicts.