Pakistani forces bombed Taliban government targets in Afghanistan’s major cities, with Islamabad calling the conflict an “open war.” Citing sources, Pakistan’s state broadcaster said the strikes involved air and ground attacks against Taliban posts, headquarters, and ammunition depots in multiple sectors along the border.
A Pakistan TV report claimed the Afghan Taliban had “waved white flags” over their posts following a decisive response by the armed forces.
Taliban’s Suicide Squad
However, after Pakistani strikes, a state-run media outlet from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Bakhtar News Agency, shared an image of what it said was a battalion of suicide attackers and quoted an Afghan security source as saying the bombers were equipped with explosive vests and car bombs and were prepared to strike major targets.
Credit: @bnafrench1 on X
The agency said Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban, has announced that intensive offensive and retaliatory operations are underway in various parts of the Durand Line– the border with Pakistan– in the provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Khost.
Pak’s War Threat
Both sides have reported heavy losses in the clashes but issued sharply differing figures that NDTV could not independently verify. Pakistan said 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded, with 27 posts destroyed and nine captured. The Taliban, however, claimed 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 19 posts seized, while eight Afghan fighters were killed, 11 wounded, and 13 civilians injured in Nangarhar.
According to Pakistan’s PTV News, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets are patrolling the skies above Afghanistan’s Kandahar after conducting airstrikes against Afghan Taliban targets.
“The Pakistan Armed Forces are fully prepared for any aggression and possess the capability to deliver a befitting response,” the broadcaster quoted security sources as saying.
Islamabad has also declared “open war” on the Afghan Taliban government following renewed clashes. “Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan),” Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Friday.
The strikes threaten a protracted conflict along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) frontier after a long-running dispute over Islamabad’s accusation that Kabul harbours militants carrying out attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban have denied the charge and said Pakistan’s security is an internal problem.
Scale Of Pak Strikes
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces carried out air strikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia.
Video shared by Pakistani security officials showed flashes of light in the night from firing along the border and the sound of heavy artillery. A video of strikes on Kabul also showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from two sites and a massive blaze in part of the capital, Kabul.
Another video showed a building on fire, which, according to Pakistan, was a Taliban headquarters in Paktia province.
“Pakistani counter-strikes against targets in Afghanistan continue,” a Pakistani government spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, said in a post on X, describing the action as a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks”.
Pakistan has been on high security alert since it launched air strikes earlier this week that Islamabad said targeted camps of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, and Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan. Officials in Islamabad have said in recent days they feared an escalation of militant strikes in urban centres.
Clashes erupted along the frontier on Thursday night after the Taliban launched what it described as retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations. Both sides had claimed to destroy border posts in that fighting.