By ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN and MUNIR AHMED
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Pakistan launched new airstrikes on Afghanistan early Wednesday, in a further escalation of months of fighting between the two neighbors that has killed hundreds.
The strikes, which Afghanistan said hit the eastern provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika, shattered more than a month of calm between the two sides.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said 13 people had been killed — 11 children, one woman and an elderly man — and that 14 other civilians were wounded. Pakistan confirmed it had carried out strikes, saying it targeted militant hideouts and infrastructure linked to recent attacks inside Pakistan, and that 26 militants were killed.
The two sides often give widely differing casualty figures.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have engaged in deadly fighting since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Several rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to produce a lasting truce.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since it seized power in the country in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.
Pakistan says it targeted militant hideouts
In a post on X, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that “precise and calibrated strikes were carried out along Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas on hideouts and safe havens of masterminds and planners” of attacks carried out by the Pakistani Taliban and insurgents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region bordering Afghanistan.
Tarar said four targets were destroyed in the operation: a training center, a hideout, an ammunition cache and a facility belonging to militant commanders.
He added that Pakistan has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region, but the safety and security of its citizens remain the top priority.
The country’s counter-terrorism campaign will continue “at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism,” he said.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry dismissed Afghanistan’s reports of civilian casualties. In a post on X, it said that “Afghan Taliban accounts are peddling propaganda claiming Pakistan bombed civilian homes and caused civilian casualties.”
Wednesday’s strikes came a day after suspected Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a security post in Pakistan’s Hasan Khel area of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, triggering an intense gunfight in which six members of the Federal Constabulary were killed and several others wounded, according to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry.
Local authorities in Pakistan said Tuesday that security forces killed eight of the attackers and thwarted an attempt to overrun the checkpoint. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi later attended funeral prayers for the dead personnel in Peshawar, the ministry said.
Though the situation along the border was calm hours after the strikes, Kabul has previously responded to Pakistani strikes by targeting Pakistani posts along the frontier.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have been fighting for months
Pakistan in February declared it was in open war with Afghanistan, following a surge in militant attacks on civilians and security forces inside Pakistan. Afghanistan has said a Pakistani airstrike in March hit a drug treatment center in Kabul, killing more than 400 people.
Pakistan has disputed the death toll and denied targeting civilians, saying it struck an ammunition depot.
Wednesday’s strikes come months after China hosted peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Urumqi, in northern China. Beijing later said the two sides had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.
Authorities in Pakistan have said that Beijing and some other friendly countries were still encouraging both sides to reach an agreement for durable peace.
Masood Khan, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said Pakistan’s priority is ending attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, which Islamabad says operate from Afghan soil.
Khan said the solution to the tension lies in enforcing a decree by Afghanistan’s Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordering the TTP to stop attacks on Pakistan. “That decree must be implemented sincerely and faithfully,” he said.
Tension and cross-border fighting has left the border between the two countries closed since October, hampering trade and transportation and stranding thousands of people.
Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.