Heavy Fighting Erupts Along Pakistan-Afghanistan Border as Taliban Issues Warning

Heavy fighting broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, leaving multiple casualties and escalating tensions between the two countries. The clashes reportedly involved Pakistani security forces and Taliban fighters, prompting a strong warning from the Taliban government in Kabul. Both sides have accused each other of initiating the violence as border security remains on high alert. The confrontation underscores rising instability and strained diplomatic relations in the region.

KABUL — Afghanistan’s Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani troops along the shared border on Saturday, accusing Islamabad of conducting airstrikes inside Afghan territory. The Taliban’s defense ministry said its forces engaged in “heavy clashes” with Pakistani security units across multiple border areas in response to what it called a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

The confrontation followed explosions reported Thursday in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan. The Taliban-run defense ministry blamed those blasts on Pakistan, alleging that the strikes targeted Afghan soil. “In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul, Taliban forces are engaged in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas,” the Afghan military said in a statement.

Taliban defense ministry spokesman Enayat Khowarazm later told AFP that the “successful” operations had ended at midnight but warned that any future incursions would be met with “a firm response.”

Islamabad has not confirmed responsibility for the reported airstrikes but urged Kabul to stop providing refuge to militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned group accused of carrying out dozens of deadly attacks across Pakistan. The TTP, which shares ideological ties with the Afghan Taliban, has reportedly intensified assaults against Pakistani forces in the border regions since 2021.

Officials from several Afghan border provinces including Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand confirmed the clashes, saying Taliban fighters had used both light and heavy weapons against Pakistani positions. A senior security official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province told AFP that Pakistani forces responded with “heavy fire” and downed three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. No casualties were immediately reported.

The violence marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the two neighbors, who have long accused each other of harboring militants responsible for cross-border attacks. Islamabad maintains that Kabul has failed to prevent TTP fighters from using Afghan territory as a base of operations a claim repeatedly denied by Taliban officials.

Earlier this year, a United Nations report stated that the TTP “receives substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities” in Kabul. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that repeated diplomatic efforts to convince the Taliban to curb the TTP had failed. “We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif warned. “We must respond to those facilitating them, whether their hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”

On Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks in several districts of northwestern Pakistan that left at least 20 security personnel and three civilians dead.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for restraint, urging both nations to avoid further escalation as border tensions continue to rise.

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Source: NDTV‍