The Taliban has unleashed a wave of deadly attacks on Pakistani military positions along the volatile frontier, triggering the most serious escalation between the neighbouring nations since the hardline Islamist group seized power in Afghanistan.
Fighting erupted overnight on Saturday into Sunday across multiple mountainous border regions, with both sides deploying small arms, artillery and heavy weaponry in what Afghan officials described as “retaliatory operations” following alleged Pakistani strikes on Afghan territory.
Casualty figures remain fiercely disputed, with each side claiming to have inflicted devastating losses on the other. Pakistan’s military acknowledged that 23 of its soldiers were killed in the clashes, whilst the Taliban government reported nine Afghan fatalities.
However, the Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed Afghan forces had killed 58 Pakistani soldiers and wounded 30 others, capturing 25 Pakistani army posts in the process. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations countered that Pakistani forces had killed more than 200 Taliban and affiliated militants.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the casualty figures from either side.
“Unprovoked” Attacks Spark Fury
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi furiously condemned the Taliban assault, branding the strikes “unprovoked” and vowing his country would respond “with a stone for every brick.
The minister took to social media platform X to blast the Afghan government’s actions. “The firing by Afghan forces on civilian populations is a blatant violation of international laws,” Mr Naqvi stated. “Afghanistan is playing a game of fire and blood.”
He issued a stark warning to Kabul, declaring: “Afghanistan will also be given a befitting reply like India, so that it will not dare to look at Pakistan with a malicious eye.”
A Pakistani military spokesperson said armed forces would take “necessary measures to safeguard Pakistani lives and properties”. Pakistani state media reported that forces had seized 19 Afghan border posts, with video footage showing Afghan positions engulfed in flames and Taliban soldiers allegedly surrendering.
Multiple Flashpoints Erupt
The exchange of fire took place at more than six locations along the disputed 2,600-kilometre border, known as the Durand Line, a colonial-era frontier drawn up by the British in 1893 that Afghanistan has never formally recognised.
A police officer stationed near Zero Point in Kurram district described intense shelling beginning around 10pm local time on Saturday. Reports flooded in of heavy gunfire from multiple sites across the frontier.
Confirmed locations of fighting included Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral and Bahram Chah. A senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province confirmed that “Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border.”
Pakistani forces shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives during the overnight confrontation, security sources confirmed.
Enayatullah Khowarazmi, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence, said the “successful” retaliatory operations concluded at midnight. “If the opposing side violates Afghanistan’s territory again, our armed forces are ready to defend their territory and will respond firmly,” he warned.
Thursday Strikes Trigger Retaliation
The cross-border violence erupted in direct response to explosions on Thursday that rocked Kabul and Afghanistan’s south-eastern Paktika province. The Taliban-run defence ministry immediately blamed Pakistan for the blasts, accusing Islamabad of violating Afghan sovereignty by bombing a civilian market.
Local residents in Paktika told the BBC’s Afghan service that shops were destroyed in the strikes, though precise casualty figures were not released.
Pakistani security officials, speaking anonymously, told media outlets that Thursday’s operation targeted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Noor Wali Mehsud in Kabul, though Pakistan’s government has not officially confirmed responsibility for the strikes.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that efforts to convince the Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed. “We will not tolerate this any longer,” he declared. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”
Border Crossings Shut
By Sunday morning, Pakistan had closed crossings along the entire length of its frontier with Afghanistan. The two main border crossings at Torkham and Chaman, along with at least three minor crossings at Kharlachi, Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan, were shuttered.
Afghan refugees attempting to leave Pakistan and traders hoping to cross the frontier were turned away as the security situation deteriorated. The closures threaten to disrupt vital trade and humanitarian movements between the two nations.
Zabihullah Mujahid said on Sunday that fighting had ceased in most areas at the request of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, though skirmishes continued in some locations. “There is no kind of threat in any part of Afghanistan’s territory,” he stated. “The Islamic Emirate and the people of Afghanistan will defend their land and remain resolute and committed in this defence.”
TTP at Heart of Tensions
The escalation comes amid a surge in attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban that seeks to impose hardline Islamic rule in Pakistan. The TTP claimed responsibility on Saturday for deadly attacks in north-west Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.
Islamabad has long accused Kabul of harbouring TTP militants who launch strikes on Pakistani soil from safe havens across the border. The Afghan Taliban government has consistently denied these allegations, insisting it does not allow its territory to be used against neighbouring countries.
The TTP was formed in 2007 in response to Pakistan’s military operations in tribal border regions supporting the US invasion of Afghanistan. The group has waged a deadly insurgency since, with violence intensifying dramatically since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, at least 2,546 people were killed in attacks last year. If current trends continue, 2025 could become one of the deadliest years on record.
Diplomatic Complications
The timing of the border crisis could scarcely be more sensitive. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was on a historic week-long visit to India when the clashes erupted, his first since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
In a major diplomatic development, India announced it would reopen its embassy in Kabul after a four-year closure, representing Delhi’s first high-level engagement with the Taliban government.
The developments followed a devastating four-day military escalation between Pakistan and India in May, one of the deadliest confrontations in recent years, which sent relations between the nuclear-armed rivals to a new low.
Pakistani officials and analysts view Mr Muttaqi’s India visit, which coincided with the Thursday strikes, as no coincidence. Some suggest the timing represents a Pakistani warning against deepening ties between the Taliban and India.
Regional Powers Urge Restraint
International concern has mounted rapidly as the border crisis threatens to spiral further out of control.
Saudi Arabia, which signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan last month, issued a statement calling for “self-restraint and avoidance of escalation” between the two nations. The kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged both sides to embrace dialogue.
Qatar echoed the warning, urging Pakistan and Afghanistan to “prioritise dialogue, diplomacy, and restraint” as tensions continued to simmer.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also appealed for calm during a live television interview. “Our position is that both sides must exercise restraint,” he stated, adding that “stability” between the countries “contributes to regional stability”.
Long-Term Consequences
The fierce border clashes represent a dramatic deterioration in relations between nations that were once close allies during Afghanistan’s decades of conflict.
Imtiaz Gul, an Islamabad-based expert on Pakistani and Afghan militant groups, warned of dangerous long-term implications. “This TTP issue has become a major sticking point in relations between the two countries,” he told Al Jazeera. “The long-term consequences are worrying, as they will only deepen existing animosities.”
With both sides having suffered significant casualties and neither showing signs of backing down from their core positions on militant safe havens, the prospects for a swift diplomatic resolution appear limited.
The international community now faces the challenge of preventing further escalation between two nations whose instability threatens the broader security of South and Central Asia.
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