Both Afghanistan and Pakistan reported fighting along their shared border on Thursday, but they offered starkly different accounts of events and losses.
The Taliban’s government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Taliban fighters launched large-scale operations against Pakistani military bases and installations along the Durand Line in response to Pakistani airstrikes on Sunday that Kabul called an unauthorized incursion. The Durand Line is the contested 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) boundary that Afghanistan does not formally recognize. Mujahid posted frequent updates on social media claiming captures of posts and bases across several districts, and said operations were under way in five provinces. He and other Taliban spokesmen asserted that many Pakistani soldiers had been killed or captured, with one post saying “up to 55” Pakistani soldiers were killed and the remains of 23 were returned to Afghan-held areas.
Pakistan rejected those claims. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad suffered two soldiers killed and three wounded, and said Pakistan was mounting a “strong and effective response” to what he described as an unprovoked Afghan attack. Explosions were later reported in Kabul after the Pakistani statement. Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, claimed Pakistan had confirmed 133 Taliban fighters killed and more than 200 wounded in strikes on Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif warned that Pakistan’s “patience has reached its limit” and said there was now “open war” with the Afghan Taliban.
Tuesday’s border exchanges had produced cross-border fire without casualties, but Thursday’s clashes represented a fresh escalation. The two neighbors have seen rising tension since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, with relations worsening in recent months. Deadly fighting in October killed more than 70 people on both sides and land border crossings have largely remained shut since. Several rounds of talks, including a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, failed to produce a lasting settlement. Saudi Arabia earlier this month helped secure the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured in October.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of failing to act against militant groups that it says use Afghan territory to strike inside Pakistan, pointing especially to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and separatist Baloch armed groups. Pakistan’s recent airstrikes followed a string of deadly suicide bombings, including an attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group, which operates mainly in eastern Afghanistan.
Regional powers called for restraint. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran stood ready to help facilitate dialogue between the two countries. Russia urged both sides to immediately stop cross-border attacks and resolve disputes diplomatically.
The disputed reports of battlefield gains and casualties from both Kabul and Islamabad underscored the difficulty of independently verifying claims on the ground as the situation remained volatile. Edited by: Wesley Dockery