Cross-border violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan reached dangerous new levels overnight Friday, with Pakistani forces conducting airstrikes against Taliban positions in several major Afghan cities, according to officials from both nations.
Pakistani security sources confirmed their military launched coordinated air and ground operations targeting Taliban command centers, weapons storage facilities, and military outposts across multiple border sectors.
The escalation represents the most significant military confrontation between the neighboring countries in recent months, jeopardizing a delicate ceasefire along their extensive 1,615-mile shared boundary and intensifying ongoing disputes over Pakistan’s claims that Afghanistan shelters Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters—allegations Taliban leadership consistently rejects.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Pakistani aircraft struck locations within Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia provinces.
“Pakistani counterstrikes against targets in Afghanistan continue,” Pakistani government spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi posted on social media platform X, characterizing the military action as retaliation for “unprovoked Afghan attacks.”
Residents in Kabul reported hearing numerous ambulance sirens racing through the capital after powerful explosions echoed across the city.
Pakistani military officials released footage showing nighttime combat operations along the frontier, including artillery fire lighting up the darkness and flames engulfing what they identified as a Taliban command facility in Paktia province.
Casualty reports from both sides varied dramatically and remain unverified. Zaidi claimed Pakistani forces eliminated 133 Afghan Taliban fighters, wounded over 200 others, demolished 27 military positions and seized control of nine additional posts.
Meanwhile, Mujahid reported 55 Pakistani troops killed and 19 positions captured by Taliban forces, while acknowledging eight Taliban casualties, 11 wounded fighters and 13 civilian injuries in Nangarhar province.
The current violence follows earlier Pakistani airstrikes this week that Islamabad claimed targeted TTP and Islamic State militant training camps in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan authorities reject accusations they permit militant operations within their borders and had threatened retaliation.
Border clashes erupted Thursday evening when Taliban forces launched what they termed retaliatory assaults on Pakistani military installations, with both armies claiming successful destruction of enemy border positions during that initial fighting.
