The recent airstrikes carried out by Pakistan against suspected terrorist facilities inside Afghanistan were meant to salvage Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s image. Data released by South Asia Terrorism Portal [SATP] reveals that while 790 incidents of terrorism occurred during 2024 in which 754 security force personnel lost their lives, in a span of just ten-and-a-half months [January 1 to October 14, 2025], the number of terrorist attacks increased to 829 claiming the lives of 940 security force personnel.
So, when a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and nine soldiers were killed and an undisclosed number of soldiers injured in an ambush sprung by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] terrorists on October 8 in Orakzai district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP], public anger forced Rawalpindi into damage control mode It did so by announcing that 19 TTP terrorists had been killed during retaliation by the troops, but provided no evidence to support its claim, but this failed to assuage public anger against the army's failure to decimate this terrorist group.
In an apparent attempt to protect Rawalpindi from further embarrassment, Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] subsequently upped the TTP fatalities to 30, claiming that these had occurred during “retribution operations” carried out in Jamal Maya area of Orakzai District and those killed were involved in the October 8 ambush. However, since ISPR is known for exaggerating losses suffered by adversaries while downplaying its own losses, this did little to allay public angst.
As he was promoted to the rank of a Field Marshal ostensibly “in recognition of the strategic brilliance and courageous leadership that ensured national security and decisively defeated the enemy [India],” Field Marshal Munir’s inability to subdue irregular outfits like TTP and Baloch freedom fighters is understandably a cause for tremendous embarrassment. The public wanted the Field Marshal to do what they were made to believe he purportedly did to India during Operation Sindoor/ Bunyan al-Marsous.
The situation was desperate, and so doing something spectacular was the only way to save face. Under severe public pressure to perform, the Field Marshal decided to do a Pakistani version of Operation Sindoor on Afghanistan for two reasons. One, as the Taliban doesn’t have an air force and its air defence systems are primitive and inadequate, an air strike would be a cake walk for the Pakistan Air Force.
Two, since Kabul had exercised restraint after previous Pakistani airstrikes and limited its reaction to verbal protests/warnings and token military action, Field Marshal Munir probably thought that things would be the same this time too. Making the cardinal mistake of underestimating the adversary and misinterpreting restraint for weakness, he went ahead. However, instead of redeeming his own and his army’s sagging image by this show of force, Taliban’s fierce response caused further embarrassment to Rawalpindi.
With social media full of videos showing a large number of Pakistani border posts overrun by Taliban fighters along with close up of several slain Pakistani soldiers, ISPR’s claims of having given a befitting reply to the Taliban by inflicting heavy casualties on them fools no one. There’s no doubt that Field Marshal Munir’s misplaced overconfidence that prompted him to order airstrikes inside Afghanistan has created a monumental crisis for Pakistan that's not likely to get resolved soon.
But Afghanistan and TTP aren't the only problems bothering Islamabad. Thanks to the army’s highhandedness under Field Marshal Munir, Pakistan is today burning like never before.
TTP continues to call the shots in several areas of KP. The Pakistan army's excessive use of force and lack of concern for the safety of civilians during anti-terrorism operations has forced many locals to abandon their houses and flee for safety. No compensation is being paid to those who have lost their property due to the ongoing conflict and shamelessly passing off death and injury to innocents due to rampant bombing of civil habitations as "collateral damage" has only further alienated the people.
Similarly, Balochistan is witnessing an unending spate of bloody clashes between Pakistani security forces and armed indigenous groups resisting illegal occupation of their land and indiscriminate exploitation of this region's natural resources by Islamabad. Visuals of armed Baloch fighters freely moving around openly in inhabited areas and checking vehicles in broad daylight as well as flags of the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army [BLA] fluttering atop buildings belie ISPR’s claim that the situation in Balochistan is under control.
The most worrisome fact is that despite indiscriminate use of airpower, heavy artillery and even tanks against armed Baloch groups as well as unleashing a wave of terror by forcibly disappearing civilians and carrying out extra judicial killings on a large scale, the Pakistan army has still failed to establish the government’s writ in Balochistan.
However, terrorism isn't the only problem that Pakistan is facing. While the public is still upset with the Field Marshal for having stolen the peoples' mandate by rigging the elections, Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir [PoJK] recently witnessed widespread protests against removal of subsidies and highhandedness of government officials and security forces. The fact that at least 10 lives were lost during these protests indicates the intensity of public anger.
There’s also the serious problem of deep distrust the people have in the country's military led "hybrid government," and this sense of wariness is not the handiwork of foreign agencies" but the Pakistan army itself. Field Marshal Munir attended an exclusive lunch at White House with US President Donald Trump but never disclosed to the people of Pakistan that he had surreptitiously endorsed Washington’s Gaza peace plan. It was only after Trump spilled the beans by bragging about how “The Prime Minister and Field Marshal of Pakistan were with us right from the beginning” that the people of Pakistan came to know what the Field Marshal had done behind their backs.
Keeping the public in the dark about making compromises with regards to the highly emotive Palestine issue rightly raised suspicions at home that the Field Marshal had secretly agreed to abandon the Palestinians and even recognise Israel, just to please the US President.
So, Islamabad's decision to thwart the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan [TLP] rally planned outside the US Embassy in Islamabad to express solidarity with Palestinians was expectedly interpreted as an attempt to appease Washington. As tempers flared, this protest turned violent and resulted in the death of many protesters and a police officer, while the tally of those injured is believed to be in excess of 1000.
Denying any political ambitions, Field Marshal Munir claims that God has made him protector of Pakistan, but the world knows better. Even if one believes him, the question he still needs to answer is why Pakistan is facing a threat from not only its Eastern and Western neighbours but also from home grown terrorism, separatism and social upheaval.
Field Marshal Munir should realise that he cannot avoid responsibility by blaming “foreign agencies” for or his unfulfilled demand to the government of turning Pakistan into a “hard state” for the host of problems plaguing Pakistan. After all, isn't Field Marshal Munir [in US President Trump's words] "a very important guy in Pakistan"?
Tailpiece: Some opine that Field Marshal Munir’s rising unpopularity within the army’s top brass could well see his ouster through a coup. However, the chances of this happening are slim because by becoming Trump’s “favorite field marshal,” Munir has ensured his survival. After all, Trump desperately needs leaders who have no qualms in backstabbing his own people!

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