Violent clashes erupted along the Pak-Afghan border late on Saturday night after unprovoked attacks by Afghan Taliban forces targeted multiple posts, with the Pakistan Army retaliating strongly, said security forces.
There are reports of significant damage inflicted on multiple Afghan posts and militant formations, according to security sources.
Pakistan Army is reportedly using artillery, tanks, and both light and heavy weapons in its response, say security sources.
The clashes broke out after Kabul accused Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on the Afghan capital earlier this week, according to Taliban border forces.
“In retaliation for the air strikes by Pakistani forces“, Taliban border forces in the east are “engaged in heavy clashes against Pakistani forces’ posts in various border areas”, the Afghan military said in a statement.
Taliban officials from the provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika, Khost, and Helmand — all located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan — confirmed that clashes were ongoing.
Islamabad did not confirm that it was behind the attacks, but called on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on its soil”.
“This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border,” a senior official in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa told AFP.
“Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported,” he continued.
The past week was particularly charged with statements to and fro from both sides as Pakistan suffered a string of martyrdoms of security forces in intelligence-based operations, while Afghanistan accused the former of violating its sovereignty.
The issue of terrorists using Afghan soil against Pakistan, along with frequent border skirmishes, has long strained ties between the two countries, with Islamabad repeatedly urging the interim Afghan government to stop allowing its territory to be used for attacks.
Islamabad maintains that its patience is wearing thin after a series of deadly attacks inside Pakistan that it blames on militants operating from Afghan territory. “Enough is enough, Pakistan government and armed forces’ patience has worn out,” Asif had said on Thursday in the National Assembly.
Kabul, however, denies allegations of providing safe havens to these groups.
Afghan officials, meanwhile, publicly blamed Pakistan a day ago. The Afghan defence ministry said, “Once again, Pakistan violated Afghan airspace, bombed a civilian market in the Paktika airspace near the Durand Line, and also violated the territory of the capital Kabul.”
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited India earlier this week, marking India’s first high-level engagement with the Taliban government since it took power in 2021.
Speaking about the Thursday night explosion in Kabul during a press conference in New Delhi a day ago, Muttaqi had condemned the incident and Pakistan for its alleged role in it.
Earlier, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry did not directly respond when questioned whether Pakistan was responsible for the attacks. “To safeguard Pakistani lives and properties, what measures need to be taken will be taken,” he told reporters.
The Foreign Office had avoided directly acknowledging strikes in Kabul, instead framing Pakistan’s counter-terrorism actions as legitimate self-defence against militants operating from Afghan soil.
Speaking at a separate news conference in Peshawar, held almost simultaneously with the FO briefing, military spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry also declined to confirm or deny whether the military had carried out strikes in Kabul. He nonetheless underscored Pakistan’s right and resolve to defend itself. “Afghanistan is being used as a base of operations for carrying out terrorism in Pakistan. There is also evidence of this,” he said.
