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01-03-2026
By SAJ Jafri
ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday, Afghanistan’s government spokesperson said, hours after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in the latest escalation of violence between the neighboring countries that made a Qatar-mediated ceasefire appear increasingly shaky.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities say they have launched attacks against Pakistan’s military positions along their border in response to Pakistani air strikes last week, as Pakistan said its forces had retaliated.
The media office of Afghanistan’s military corps in the east said in a statement that “heavy clashes” began late on Thursday “in response to the recent air strikes carried out by Pakistani forces in Nangarhar and Paktia” provinces.
“In response to repeated provocations and violations by Pakistani military circles, large-scale offensive operations have been launched against Pakistani military positions and installations along the Durand Line,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote in a post on social media.
Relations between the neighbors have plunged in recent months with land crossings along the 2,611km-long (1,622-mile-long) border known as the Durand Line largely shut since deadly fighting in October killed more than 70 people on both sides.
An Afghan military source told media that 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed and that 13 outposts were captured in Thursday’s attacks, which the Afghan Taliban says were carried out in retaliation for Pakistani strikes along the border on Sunday.
Pakistan had said that it killed at least 70 fighters in Sunday’s attacks, with Afghanistan rejecting the claim, saying civilians had been killed, including women and children.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on social media later on Thursday that Pakistani troops had delivered an “immediate and effective response” to Taliban fire across several sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Taliban regime forces are being delivered punishment in Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors. Early reports confirm heavy casualties on Afghan side with multiple posts and equipment destroyed,” the ministry said.
Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that no Pakistani outposts been “captured or damaged” and that Pakistani forces had “inflicted heavy losses across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in response to unprovoked Taliban aggression”.
In the early hours of Friday, he said that Pakistan was continuing its military response, claiming that 133 Afghan Taliban members were killed and more than 200 others were wounded. He added that 27 Afghan Taliban posts had been destroyed and nine Afghan Taliban posts had been captured.
He did not comment on the Afghan claim that 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
There was no immediate comment from the Afghan authorities on the Pakistani claims of casualties.
Meanwhile, at least one loud explosion was reported in the Afghan capital Kabul along with the sound of aircraft.
Security issues lie at the heart of recent border tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harboring armed groups led by the Pakistan Taliban, known by its acronym TTP, on its soil.
The Pakistan Taliban emerged in 2007 in Pakistan’s tribal districts and is distinct from the Taliban in Afghanistan but shares deep ideological, social and linguistic ties with the group.
