Afghanistan said 13 civilians were killed in strikes on Khost, Kunar and Paktika, while Pakistan said it targeted Pakistani Taliban-linked sites and killed 26 militants.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan early Wednesday, breaking more than a month of relative calm between the neighboring countries and intensifying a conflict that has already killed hundreds since February.
Afghan officials said the strikes hit the eastern provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika. Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s government, said 13 people were killed, including 11 children, one woman and an elderly man. He said 14 other civilians were wounded.
Pakistan confirmed the operation but gave a different account of the targets and casualties. Pakistani officials said the strikes were aimed at militant hideouts and infrastructure tied to recent attacks inside Pakistan. Islamabad said 26 militants were killed.
The two governments frequently report sharply different casualty figures after cross-border attacks.
The latest strikes came one day after suspected Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a security post in Hasan Khel, an area in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said six Federal Constabulary personnel were killed and several others were wounded in the gunfight.
Local authorities in Pakistan said security forces killed eight attackers and stopped an attempt to overrun the checkpoint. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi later attended funeral prayers for the personnel killed in the attack in Peshawar, the ministry said.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X that “precise and calibrated strikes were carried out along Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas on hideouts and safe havens of masterminds and planners” of attacks by the Pakistani Taliban and insurgents operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Tarar said four targets were destroyed: a training center, a hideout, an ammunition cache and a facility used by militant commanders.
He said Pakistan has sought peace and stability in the region but considers the safety and security of its citizens the government’s top priority. Tarar said Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign would continue “at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism.”
Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected Afghanistan’s account of civilian casualties, saying in a post on X that “Afghan Taliban accounts are peddling propaganda claiming Pakistan bombed civilian homes and caused civilian casualties.”
The fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan has escalated since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan after Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Several rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban but allied with it. The Afghan Taliban has ruled Afghanistan since 2021, when it seized power during the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
Kabul denies harboring militants who attack Pakistan.
Although the border area was reported calm hours after Wednesday’s airstrikes, Afghanistan has previously responded to Pakistani attacks by striking Pakistani posts along the frontier.
Pakistan declared in February that it was in open war with Afghanistan after a surge in militant attacks against civilians and security forces inside Pakistan. Afghanistan later said a Pakistani airstrike in March hit a drug treatment center in Kabul and killed more than 400 people.
Pakistan disputed that death toll and denied targeting civilians, saying the strike hit an ammunition depot.
Wednesday’s operation came months after China hosted peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Urumqi, in northern China. Beijing later said both sides agreed not to escalate the conflict and to explore a solution.
Pakistani authorities have said China and other friendly countries are still encouraging both governments to reach a durable peace agreement.
Masood Khan, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said Pakistan’s central demand is for attacks by the Pakistani Taliban to stop. Islamabad says TTP militants operate from Afghan territory.
Khan said the path to easing tensions depends on enforcement of a decree from Afghanistan’s Taliban leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, ordering the TTP to stop attacks on Pakistan.
“That decree must be implemented sincerely and faithfully,” Khan said.
The dispute has also caused major disruption along the border. Cross-border fighting and tension have kept the frontier closed since October, slowing trade and transportation and leaving thousands of people stranded.
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