Pakistan launched air strikes on major Afghan cities on Friday, including the capital Kabul, marking a dramatic escalation in months of tit-for-tat clashes and prompting Islamabad’s defence minister to declare the two neighbours at “open war.” The bombardment targeted what Pakistani officials described as Taliban defence positions, as tensions along the volatile frontier spiralled into one of the most serious confrontations in recent years.
Journalists from Agence France-Presse in Kabul and Kandahar reported hearing loud explosions and fighter jets overhead as Pakistani aircraft struck the Afghan capital and the southern city long regarded as a power base of the Taliban authorities. The strikes followed overnight fighting along the border, after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani troops in response to earlier air raids by Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on social media that “Afghan Taliban defence targets were targeted in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar,” while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an “all-out confrontation” with the Taliban government. “Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open war between us and you,” he wrote. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the armed forces had “the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions.”
In Kabul, residents described hours of jets roaring overhead, followed by multiple blasts and bursts of gunfire. In Kandahar, where Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based, reporters also heard aircraft in the skies. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the Pakistani strikes but said there were no casualties from the bombardment.
Hours before the air raids, Mujahid had announced “large-scale offensive operations” at the border in response to what he described as repeated violations by the Pakistani military. Afghanistan’s defence ministry said eight of its soldiers were killed during the land offensive, while both militaries claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other side in the latest round of violence.
An Afghan official in Nangarhar province reported that several civilians were wounded near the Torkham border crossing when a mortar shell struck a camp for people returning from Pakistan. “Seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious,” said Qureshi Badlun, the province’s information chief. Mujahid also claimed that several Pakistani soldiers had been captured alive, a statement denied by the prime minister’s office in Islamabad.
Relations between the two countries have sharply deteriorated in recent months. Land crossings have been largely closed since deadly clashes in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides. Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to rein in militant groups that stage attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation the Taliban government denies. Several rounds of negotiations followed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but no lasting settlement has emerged.
The latest escalation comes after earlier Pakistani strikes in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, which the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians. Cross-border fire was also reported earlier this week without casualties. The region has meanwhile been rocked by a string of deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 40 people and an assault claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan at a restaurant in Kabul last month. Saudi Arabia has recently intervened to mediate the release of Pakistani soldiers captured in October, underscoring growing regional concern over the deteriorating security situation.
