Pakistan strikes Kabul and Kandahar as border clashes with Taliban escalate
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan launched airstrikes on targets in Kabul and Kandahar early Friday, officials in Islamabad said, after a night of heavy cross-border fighting with Afghanistan’s Taliban that shattered a fragile ceasefire and drove civilians to flee frontline towns.
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A spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban said on X that its forces responded with renewed attacks against Pakistani military positions along the frontier. The post was later deleted. Pakistani authorities described their actions as “counter strikes” following what they called “unprovoked Afghan attacks.” The Taliban said its offensive was retaliation for earlier Pakistani strikes this week.
Residents in Kabul reported loud blasts echoing across the capital before dawn, according to AFP. On the Pakistani side, people living near the border told local media they heard explosions and were told to move to safety as clashes intensified overnight.
Competing claims, rising toll
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three others wounded late Thursday when Afghan Taliban units opened fire on military positions along the frontier. Pakistan’s forces “responded to the unprovoked fire,” he said.
Taliban military spokesperson Mawlawi Wahidullah Mohammadi said a “large-scale” retaliatory operation began around 8 p.m. local time Thursday. The group’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed the offensive killed “numerous” Pakistani soldiers and led to the capture of others, and that 15 Pakistani military posts were seized. A spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected those claims, insisting no posts were lost and warning that any aggression would face an “immediate and effective” response.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on X that “early reports confirm heavy casualties on [the] Afghan side with multiple posts and equipment destroyed.” The ministry added that Pakistan “will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens.”
None of the battlefield claims could be independently verified.
Border closures and civilian disruption
Authorities ordered evacuations near Pakistan’s border town of Torkham amid sustained exchanges of fire. Officials suspended the repatriation of deported Afghan nationals through the crossing and temporarily closed it to Afghan refugees as security deteriorated.
Cycle of strike and counterstrike
The latest escalation comes days after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan following a series of suicide bombings on Pakistani soil. Islamabad said it targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the border. Kabul said the strikes hit civilian homes and a religious school, killing women and children, and put the death toll at at least 18.
Mujahid wrote that Afghanistan launched “large-scale preemptive operations” in response to what he called repeated border violations and insurgent activity by “Pakistani military circles.” Pakistan’s government countered that the Taliban had “miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire” across multiple locations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Fragile ceasefire frays
The two countries agreed to a tenuous ceasefire in October after deadly cross-border clashes, but fighting has flared anew in recent days. The neighbors share a 1,600-mile (2,574-km) mountainous border where longstanding security, political and economic tensions have often spilled into violence.
Friday’s strikes underscore how quickly the pause in hostilities has eroded, with both sides now claiming heavy losses inflicted on the other and signaling readiness for further action. Pakistan’s prime ministerial spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed Taliban assertions of gains and said any attack would draw a swift response. Kabul had warned of retaliation “at the appropriate time” following last weekend’s strikes.
As air and artillery exchanges reverberated across the frontier, civilians again found themselves in the middle of a widening confrontation. With both governments trading allegations and amplifying battlefield claims, the scope of damage and the full toll on either side remained unclear as of Friday morning.
This is a developing story.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
