Taliban officials said Pakistani forces launched a “reckless” airstrike in a border area with Afghanistan on Monday that killed eight civilians, prompting Afghan forces to retaliate against Pakistani military outposts.
Tensions have escalated along the border between the two countries since the Taliban government took power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming the militant group regularly launches attacks from Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani aircraft “bombed” areas in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan at around 3:00 am (2230 GMT Sunday). residence, adding that all the deceased were women and children.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry said Afghan border forces retaliated for the airstrikes, targeting Pakistani military posts along the disputed border with “heavy weapons.”
Both sides reported cross-border skirmishes in the area on Monday, the latest in a series of incidents along the disputed border.
Mujahid said in a statement that the Taliban government “strongly condemns these attacks and calls such reckless acts a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”
“Such an incident could have very serious consequences, which would be beyond Pakistan’s control.”
Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed on Monday evening that it had “carried out counter-terrorism operations in border areas within Afghanistan”.
It said in a statement that it was targeting Hafiz Gul Bahadur, one of several factions of Pakistan’s homegrown Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – which has been responsible for targeting police and security officials are responsible for a surge in border violence.
Drones and jets
Malak Noor Khan, a tribal elder in Hostespera district, said he saw at least four explosives dropped by drones and jets, destroying several houses, including one holding a woman and her child.
“When the drones first appeared, all of us, including women and children, left our homes and went into the woods on the mountainside because there was snow on the ground and it was very cold,” he told AFP.
A local government official in a border area with Pakistan told AFP on condition of anonymity that residents had been instructed to evacuate the area during skirmishes.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban government in Kabul of harboring militants, allowing them to carry out attacks on Pakistani soil with impunity.
Kabul denies the accusations.
According to the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Security Research, attacks increased by 80% in the first half of 2023, killing 112 people in August.
A senior government official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that despite repeated complaints, “Afghanistan does not appear to be taking this matter seriously”.
Regional analyst Serra Aqil said that while the increase in attacks in Pakistan “triggers inevitable retaliation”, the country “cannot afford to lose Afghanistan as an ally”.
“Pakistan must keep this in mind as maintaining friendly relations with Afghanistan provides greater opportunities than becoming an adversary with Afghanistan,” said Aqil, a professor at the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
“We will respond”
Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted on X that it had summoned the head of Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul to protest Monday’s attack.
It called on Pakistan’s new government “not to allow certain circles to complicate relations between the two Muslim neighbors” – an apparent reference to certain Pakistani military leaders.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “certain elements among those in power in Afghanistan are actively supporting the TTP and using them as proxies against Pakistan” and urged them to “make a clear choice to stand with the people of Pakistan.”
Monday’s attack came after seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by a militant group in Pakistan on Saturday, for which President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed revenge.
“Pakistan has decided that whoever comes into our borders, homes or country and commits acts of terror, we will respond strongly, no matter who or from what country,” he said while participating in the funeral prayers of the soldier. Lt. Col.
Security forces also conducted an operation overnight in the North Waziristan region bordering Khost and Paktika on Sunday, killing eight militants accused of involvement in Saturday’s attack, a Pakistani military statement said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
