Simmering tensions between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan have escalated into military clashes, killing dozens on both sides and prompting the closure of the border.
Islamabad and Kabul said on Sunday that both the countries lost a number of people in overnight border clashes, report agencies. This was the most serious fighting between the two neighbours since the Taliban came to power in Kabul.
The Pakistan military said that 23 of its soldiers were killed in the clashes. The Taliban said nine on its side were killed.
Tensions have risen after Islamabad demanded the Taliban take action against militants who have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operate from havens in Afghanistan. The Taliban, which came to power in 2021, denies that Pakistani militants are present on its soil.
Each side said it inflicted far higher casualties on the other side, without providing evidence. Pakistan said it had killed more than 200 Afghan Taliban and allied fighters, while Afghanistan said that it had killed 58 Pakistani soldiers.
It was not possible to independently verify the figures.
Pakistani airstrikes trigger retaliatory attacks
On Thursday, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and on a marketplace in eastern Afghanistan, according to Pakistani security officials and the Taliban, setting off retaliatory attacks by the Taliban. Pakistan has not officially acknowledged the airstrikes.
Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani border posts late on Saturday. Pakistan said that it had responded with gun and artillery fire.
Both nations claimed to have destroyed border posts of the other side. Pakistani security officials shared video footage, which they said showed Afghan posts being hit.
The exchanges were mostly over on Sunday morning, Pakistani security officials said. But in Pakistan’s Kurram area, intermittent gunfire continued, according to local officials and residents.
Afghanistan’s ministry of defence had previously said that their operation had finished at midnight local time.
Kabul said on Sunday that it had halted attacks at the request of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The two Arab Gulf nations had released statements of concern about the clashes.
“There is no kind of threat in any part of Afghanistan’s territory,” the Taliban administration’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Sunday. “The Islamic Emirate and the people of Afghanistan will defend their land and remain resolute and committed in this defence.”
Mujahid said that fighting was ongoing in some areas.
Border crossings closed
Pakistani officials said on Sunday Pakistan had closed crossings along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border with Afghanistan, a disputed colonial-era frontier known as the Durand line drawn up by the British in 1893.
The two main border crossings with Afghanistan, at Torkham and Chaman, and at least three minor crossings, at Kharlachi, Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan, were closed on Sunday, local officials said.
The Pakistani airstrikes coincided with a rare visit to India by a Taliban leader, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, which resulted in an announcement by India on Friday to upgrade relations. India is Pakistan’s longstanding adversary, with the trip causing concern in Islamabad.
Clashes along border nothing new
Clashes are nothing new for these two neighbours. The Pakistani military has previously conducted air strikes inside Afghan territory, the most recent one in December 2024.
However, after a bloody 2024, one of Pakistan’s deadliest years in nearly a decade, with more than 2,500 people killed in violence, Islamabad and Kabul tried to reset their relationship.
In April, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar visited Kabul, with senior leadership on both sides holding a series of meetings, often mediated by China. That process led to upgraded diplomatic ties and a brief lull in violence over the summer.
According to experts, the chances for a full-blown military conflict between the two countries are minimal.
