Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan dramatically escalated on Saturday as Afghan Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani soldiers along their shared border, accusing Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on Afghan soil.
The cross-border fighting, confirmed by senior officials in multiple provinces on both sides, is the latest and one of the most serious escalations since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.
Taliban Retaliation for ‘Violation of Sovereignty’
The Taliban-run defense ministry stated that its forces were engaged in “heavy clashes” against Pakistani security forces in various areas along the border “in retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul.”
The reprisal operations followed two explosions heard in the Afghan capital on Thursday and another in the southeast. On Friday, the Taliban defense ministry had blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbour of “violating its sovereignty.”
Taliban officials from the provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand—all situated along the border—confirmed that clashes were ongoing. Defence ministry spokesman Enayat Khowarazm later announced the “successful” operations had ended at midnight, but issued a warning: “If the opposing side violates Afghanistan’s territory again, our armed forces are ready to defend their territory and will respond firmly.”
Pakistani Response and TTP Accusations
A senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, described the action from the Afghan side: “This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border.” The official added that Pakistani forces “responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives.”
While Islamabad did not explicitly confirm its role in Thursday’s alleged air strikes, it has intensified its demand on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.” Pakistan accuses the TTP—which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban and has intensified its violence against Pakistani security forces—of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.
Earlier on Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Pakistan’s northwest that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.
Escalating Tensions Over Militants
The current flare-up comes amid a significant uptick in violence attributed to TTP militants in the mountainous regions near the border. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of failing to expel the TTP militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation authorities in Kabul deny.
On Thursday, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament that efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed. “We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif warned. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called on his country’s neighbours “to exercise restraint” as the cross-border hostility threatens to further destabilize the region.