Pakistan, Afghanistan trade fire after failed border infiltration
Pakistan and Afghanistan traded accusations after Pakistani officials said Taliban forces fired at border posts overnight following what Pakistani troops described as a failed cross-border infiltration attempt by militants. The latest flare-up came days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts, adding to tensions that could affect mediation efforts by regional powers.
Pakistani authorities also said security forces brought down eight rudimentary drones before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat and the border town of Torkham. Islamabad said the drones had been launched by the Afghan Taliban. Officials said all the drones were shot down and caused no damage.
According to four local Pakistani officials, the infiltration attempt was aimed at areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces and was allegedly backed by Afghan Taliban forces. The officials described the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government in Afghanistan of allowing militants to use its territory to launch attacks, a charge Kabul has denied.
The officials said that after Pakistani troops blocked the infiltration attempt, Afghan Taliban forces fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts. Pakistani forces then responded with artillery, targeting Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive sites. They said the Afghan Taliban later pulled back from several positions and suffered casualties. The four officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Afghanistan Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied that Afghan Taliban forces had carried out any attacks. The accounts from the border could not be independently verified.
This week's airstrikes ended several weeks of relative calm after months of cross-border hostilities. Earlier this month, Pakistani security forces said they had killed 15 militants trying to enter the country from Afghanistan. In Monday's airstrikes, Pakistan's Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. The UN mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties, and Kabul formally protested the strikes.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar raised concern over what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistan militant groups in Afghanistan. Monday's airstrikes followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, near the Afghan border, in which six Pakistani security personnel were killed. Days earlier, a suicide bomber targeted a mosque inside a police compound in nearby Kohat. Eight gunmen later stormed the compound, sparking a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers. No group claimed responsibility, but Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied groups, which have stepped up attacks since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The latest violence has deepened tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, with cross-border firing, drone incidents and recent Pakistani airstrikes adding to fears for mediation efforts by China, Turkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace.
