Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated sharply on Friday, with Islamabad declaring “open war” on Kabul after carrying out airstrikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, further intensifying hostilities between the two neighbouring countries.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a post on X that Islamabad had lost patience with the Taliban-led administration in Kabul, accusing it of sheltering militant groups.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was expected that there would be peace in Afghanistan,” he wrote, alleging that militants from different parts of the world had gathered there and that terrorism was being exported from Afghan soil. He also accused the Taliban of denying basic rights to women.
Pakistan confirmed it had carried out airstrikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia. Afghan authorities condemned the action. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid described the strikes as “cowardly” and claimed no casualties had been reported.
The latest confrontation comes amid longstanding tensions along the Durand Line, the 19th-century border demarcation that remains disputed by Kabul.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defence of Afghanistan said it had launched retaliatory operations at 8:00 PM on February 26, corresponding with the 9th of Ramadan, in response to what it termed earlier violations of Afghan territory by Pakistani forces. The ministry claimed 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, two bases and 19 posts were captured during the response.
Pakistan, however, announced a counter-operation named ‘Ghazab Lil Haq’ targeting what it called militant infrastructure linked to the Afghan Taliban. According to ARY News, Prime Minister’s spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi alleged that 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed, over 200 injured, and 27 Taliban posts destroyed, with nine captured.
The casualty figures and territorial claims from both sides could not be independently verified.
The escalation follows years of friction over cross-border militancy, security operations, and the status of the Durand Line. Since the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2021, relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration have remained uneasy, with repeated accusations of harbouring armed groups operating across the border.
-ANI
