Taliban members and local residents at the site of the alleged strike. Photo: Stringer / EPA
Pakistan carried out airstrikes along the border with Afghanistan, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on X.
Pakistan’s version. According to the minister, the strikes were a response to “recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan” and targeted “hideouts and sanctuaries” near the border, including a training center and an ammunition cache.
Tarar said the strikes were “precision” attacks and hit four targets. As a result, he added, 26 Afghan militants were killed.
Afghanistan’s version. Pakistan struck three provinces of the neighboring country — Kunar, Khost, and Paktika, said Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s supreme leader.
According to him, civilians were killed: 11 children, one woman, and one elderly man. Another 14 women and children were injured, Mujahid said.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict. A whole “complex of contradictions” remains between the two countries, primarily in the security sphere, orientalist and NEST Centre expert Ruslan Suleymanov explained in an interview with “Novaya-Europe”.
Islamabad has long accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban to operate on their territory. The Afghan Taliban, in response, say the Pakistani Taliban are not connected to them and that Kabul does not interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
Another important factor, the expert notes, is the issue of the Durand Line, the largely unmarked border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that emerged at the end of the 19th century as a result of two Anglo-Afghan wars. The Taliban do not recognize it, although they have not officially stated any intention to revise the border.
In February 2026, the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated. Pakistan declared an “open war” against the “Taliban,” carrying out strikes on militant camps in response to attacks in Islamabad. After that, there were almost no clashes between the two countries for several months, the BBC Russian Service noted.