Afghan: Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated sharply after Pakistan launched airstrikes and deployed ground troops into Afghan border provinces, leaving dozens dead and injured, according to officials from both countries.
Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government condemned the operation, calling it a ‘cowardly act’ and describing the attacks as ‘a crime and atrocity.’ Taliban officials told that at least 100 people had been killed or wounded, including civilians, although these figures have not been independently verified.
Pakistan, however, said the military operation was aimed exclusively at militant hideouts. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that 29 militants were killed during coordinated strikes targeting terrorist bases in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar. Attaullah Tarar said the operation was carried out in response to recent terrorist attacks against innocent people’ inside Pakistan.
The Taliban government disputed Pakistan’s claims, insisting that civilian homes were struck during the attacks. Officials said the village of Mandikhel in Paktika province suffered the heaviest casualties. The latest military action follows a deadly suicide attack at the headquarters of Pakistan’s Sindh Rangers in Karachi.
Three paramilitary personnel were killed along with three attackers, while authorities arrested a fourth suspect, whom they identified as an Afghan national. The attack was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of providing safe havens to militants responsible for cross-border attacks, particularly members of the TTP. The Taliban administration has consistently rejected those allegations, accusing Islamabad instead of conducting unprovoked attacks that have killed Afghan civilians.
Relations between the neighboring countries have remained strained despite a ceasefire agreement reached in October last year after weeks of deadly border clashes. Like previous internationally brokered truces, the agreement has largely collapsed, with repeated exchanges of fire and military operations continuing along the shared frontier.
Violence has intensified in recent months. Border clashes in February claimed dozens of lives, while a Pakistani strike in March reportedly hit a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, causing hundreds of casualties. Earlier this month, Pakistan carried out another round of airstrikes that it said killed 26 militants, while Afghan officials claimed 13 civilians, mostly children, also died.
The latest escalation underscores the deteriorating security situation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with both governments continuing to trade accusations over cross-border militancy and civilian casualties. The conflicting casualty figures and claims surrounding the operation remain unverified by independent sources.
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