Khawaja Asif: KP now aligned with Centre on counter-terrorism
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has declared that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is now on the same page as the federal government in the fight against terrorism, signalling a meaningful shift in the historically strained civil-military and provincial-federal coordination on security matters in the northwest.
The statement carries significant weight given KP's complex security landscape and the province's past tensions with Islamabad over counter-insurgency strategy, particularly in relation to militant groups operating along the Afghan border. Asif's remarks suggest that the PTI-governed province and the federal coalition have reached a working understanding on operational priorities.
The development comes at a time when terrorist incidents in KP and Balochistan have intensified pressure on both federal and provincial governments to present a unified front. A coordinated approach is seen as essential to the effectiveness of ongoing military operations in the region.
Analysts note that political alignment between Islamabad and Peshawar has often been elusive due to partisan divisions, making this declared convergence — if substantiated by operational action — a potentially consequential step in Pakistan's broader counter-terrorism architecture.
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