Mike Baker

That's part of an information war, of course, that increasingly accompanies the shooting war.

Islamabad says it struck terrorist infrastructure, with officials describing the operation as, quote, precise and calibrated, saying it targeted militant and commander hideouts and infrastructure linked to the Tariq-e-Taliban, that's the TTP, operating along Pakistan's frontier.

Pakistan's information ministry dismissed the Taliban's civilian casualty claims as, quote, peddling propaganda.

Independent sources on the ground told CBS News that women and children were among those killed.

So why did Pakistan launch the strikes and effectively reignite the war?

Well, Islamabad says the operation was a direct response to an attack one day earlier by suspected TTP militants on a security post near the border.

The assault triggered an intense gunfight that killed six members of Pakistan's federal constabulary and wounded several others.

From Pakistan's perspective, allowing militant sanctuaries to operate just across the border is unacceptable.

In a statement posted on X, Pakistan's information minister said the strikes destroyed four targets, a training center, a militant hideout, an ammunition cache, and a facility linked to senior TTP commanders.

The minister said Pakistan's counterterrorism campaign would continue, quote, at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism, end quote.

Now, to understand why this conflict does keep reigniting, you have to understand the increasingly bitter dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government.

When the Taliban returned to power following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, many observers assumed relations between Kabul and Islamabad would improve.

After all, the two movements share ideological roots and often found themselves aligned against common enemies.

Instead, well, the relationship deteriorated.

As we've previously discussed here on the PDB, the TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban, but closely aligned with it.

And Pakistan blames the group for a growing wave of attacks targeting civilians, security forces and government infrastructure.

The Taliban denies those allegations.

But after years of attacks and counterattacks, Islamabad appears increasingly unwilling to accept those denials.

And that's what makes this conflict so difficult to contain.

Both governments claim they act defensively.