Pakistan can intercept any drones launched toward it from Afghanistan or India and is operationally ahead on that threat, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a Friday interview whose video state media shared on Sunday.
He said the Pakistan Army is adjusting to both conventional fighting and non-contact warfare—including drone use, cyber work and long-range munitions—and is bringing in artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging tools so it does not fall behind as the character of war changes.
Drone threat and past conflict
Asked about concern over Afghan Taliban use of drones, including comparisons with how the Houthis have used such systems against Saudi Arabia, Lt Gen Chaudhry said warfare itself has changed and the military is adapting. He argued Afghanistan has no indigenous drone industry or technology of that kind, and said such capability has been supplied by sponsors—naming India as the biggest terror sponsor in that context.
He alleged the Afghan Taliban were acting as India’s proxy on terrorism affecting Pakistan. Referring to the previous conflict with India, he said New Delhi had sent dozens of sophisticated drones and that Pakistani forces had brought them down. "So we are much ahead where we stand in our own operational readiness," he said, adding that Afghanistan might try to send drones but Pakistan could intercept them, and that Afghanistan could not absorb the retaliation Pakistan was capable of delivering.
AI, cyber and non-contact warfare
Lt Gen Chaudhry said the army is preparing for contact and non-contact domains together: drones, cyber operations and long-range munitions, while judging what is needed for present and future challenges. The spread of non-contact tools among non-state actors—including the Taliban, groups he referred to as Khawarij, and the Houthis—threatened every country, he said. "These states will have to reconsider and re-evaluate their security architecture," he added.
On whether the military uses AI to identify targets and other new technologies, he said the army is incorporating whatever is essential to keep pace. He would not discuss specific uses of AI, quantum technology or cyber capabilities. "We use all technologies, absorbing all sorts of technologies that are essential in the changing character of war," he said. "We are using all sorts of technologies. We are a technology-savvy army."
Allegations on proxies and Afghanistan
He again described India as the "prime contractor" behind militant groups operating against Pakistan, saying Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) acted as its proxies. He rejected Afghan Taliban claims that Pakistan hosts anti-Taliban elements and coordinates former Afghan government generals and other opponents, accusing the Taliban side of relying on non-state actors, militias and mercenaries. "We are a state. Afghanistan is not a state. Afghanistan is still being run by a non-state actor. It's a regime," he said.
Decades of Soviet and US intervention, he argued, had left space for agencies and proxy groups inside Afghanistan—more than 40 years of foreign interventions that set it apart from Pakistan and other states. He said the presence of many terrorist organisations there was also reflected in United Nations reports and intelligence assessments by the United States and other countries. He questioned earlier Taliban claims that a person taken from a Kabul street was a Pakistani pilot in shalwar kameez and that Pakistani tanks had been seized, saying those episodes damaged the regime’s credibility.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Fauj ke mukhbar Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry ne kaha hai ke Pakistan Afghanistan aur India se aane wale drones rok sakta hai. Unhon ne bataya ke pehle jang mein kayi advanced Indian drones giraaye gaye. Fauj AI aur nayi technologies bhi istemal kar rahi hai taake drone aur cyber threats ka muqabla ho sake. Aam shehri ke liye yeh message yeh hai ke mulk ki fauj border par drone khatre ko serious le rahi hai.
