Pakistan-Afghanistan Conflict: Air strikes in Kabul hours after Afghanistan’s attack on Pakistan

Kabul: Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and two other provinces early Friday. This action has been taken at a time when Afghanistan attacked Pakistan across the border late on Thursday night. Due to increasing violence between the two neighboring countries, the ceasefire brokered by Qatar also seems to be weakening.

At least three explosions were heard in Kabul, but it is not yet clear where in the capital the attacks took place and information about any casualties was not immediately available. Government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Pakistan also carried out airstrikes in Kandahar in the south and the south-eastern province of Paktia.

Afghanistan said its forces launched a cross-border offensive into Pakistan late Thursday in response to Pakistan’s deadly air strikes in border areas on Sunday and claimed to have captured more than 12 Pakistani army posts. Pakistan’s government on Thursday described Afghanistan’s attack as unprovoked and also rejected claims that its military posts had been captured. Pakistan had described the air strikes on Sunday as an action against terrorists hiding in the area.

“In response to repeated insurrection and attacks by the Pakistani Army, large-scale attacks were carried out on Pakistani military bases and establishments along the Durand Line,” Mujahid said in a post on ‘X’ on Thursday night.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the retaliatory strikes were carried out in six provinces along the border. The 2,611 km long border between the two countries is called the Durand Line, which Afghanistan does not formally recognize. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over reports of cross-border clashes. His spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the secretary-general has appealed to both sides to resolve differences through diplomacy. Both countries gave different figures of casualties.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, some of whose bodies were taken to Afghanistan, while “many soldiers were captured alive.”

According to the ministry, eight Afghan soldiers were killed and 11 were injured. On the other hand, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three were injured, while 36 Afghan fighters were killed. There has been tension between the two countries for the last several months. Soldiers, civilians and suspected terrorists were killed in border clashes in October.

Although the ceasefire brokered by Qatar remained largely in force, there has been intermittent firing along the border. Several rounds of peace talks held in November also failed to reach any formal agreement. Pakistan blames Tehreek-e-Pakistan (TTP) and banned Baloch separatist organizations for increasing extremist violence in recent years. The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban, but is considered to have close ties to it. Pakistan alleges that TTP operates from Afghan soil, although both Kabul and the organization deny this allegation.