ISLAMABAD – Pakistan and Afghanistan traded cross-border strikes overnight, sharply raising tensions. By Friday, Pakistan’s defence minister said they were now in “open war” with Afghanistan.
Afghan forces struck Pakistani targets late Thursday. Kabul said the attack answered deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border districts on Sunday. Soon after, Pakistan carried out strikes early Friday in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces, saying it hit military sites.
Pressure between the two sides has been building for months. In October, clashes along the border killed dozens of soldiers, civilians, and suspected militants. Pakistan says Afghanistan’s Taliban government shelters armed groups that attack Pakistan. It also claims Kabul is working with Pakistan’s rival, India.
A ceasefire, helped by Qatar, stopped the worst of the fighting in October. However, peace talks held in Turkey in November failed to secure a lasting deal. Since then, both sides have exchanged gunfire from time to time.
Now, Qatar appears to be stepping in again. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s minister of state, spoke on Friday with the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan to help calm the situation, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X.
Cross-border attack on Pakistan
Afghanistan said its strikes on Pakistani military targets were meant as a warning. Government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the attacks sent “a message that our hands can reach their throats and that we will respond to every evil act of Pakistan”. He added that Pakistan had not tried to solve disputes through talks.
After the Afghan strikes, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif wrote on X: “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
Asif said Pakistan had hoped the 2021 NATO withdrawal would bring stability. He said Pakistan expected the Taliban, after taking power, to focus on Afghan welfare and regional calm.
Instead, Asif claimed the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India”. The remark points to warming ties between India and Afghanistan, including moves to expand trade. Pakistan and India, both nuclear-armed, have fought wars and faced repeated clashes since the 1947 partition.
Afghanistan Exporting Terrorism
Asif also accused Afghanistan of “exporting terrorism“, a charge Pakistan often repeats as militant attacks rise at home. Pakistan blames Afghanistan for aiding the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and banned Baloch separatist groups.
Pakistan says the TTP operates from Afghan territory. The group, which is separate from but close to Afghanistan’s Taliban, denies it. Kabul also rejects the allegation.
Mujahid said Pakistan’s militancy problem is domestic and long-running. He said the TTP has been active for nearly 20 years.
Pakistan has also accused India of supporting the Baloch Liberation Army and the TTP, claims New Delhi denies.
Retaliatory strikes and competing casualty claims
Afghanistan said its Thursday attack was in response to Pakistani airstrikes on Sunday in Afghan border areas. Since then, the two governments have offered very different casualty figures.
Pakistan’s military spokesman, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said air and ground operations killed at least 274 Afghan forces and allied militants, with more than 400 wounded. He added that 12 Pakistani soldiers died and 27 were wounded, with one missing.
Mujahid dismissed Pakistan’s casualty numbers as “false”. He said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, and that Afghanistan took the bodies of 23 into the country. He also said Afghan forces captured “many” Pakistani soldiers. Mujahid said 13 Afghan soldiers were killed and 22 wounded, and 13 civilians were wounded.
Later on Friday, Afghanistan said Pakistan struck Khost and Paktika in the south-east, killing 19 civilians and injuring 26 more.
Deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat accused Pakistan of “deliberately” hitting civilian homes. He said most of the dead and injured were women and children.
Earlier, Afghan officials said a religious school in Paktika had been bombed, but they did not give casualty details. Independent verification of the claims from either side was not possible.
Two senior Pakistani security officials said Pakistan carried out airstrikes on Friday night in Afghanistan’s Laghman province, targeting military installations. They said the strikes destroyed an arms depot and two key facilities. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said anti-drone systems brought down several small drones over Abbottabad, Swabi, and Nowshera in the north-west on Friday. He said the drones appeared linked to a failed attack by the Pakistani Taliban and reported no casualties. Tarar said the incident “once again exposed direct linkages between the Afghan Taliban regime and terrorism in Pakistan”.
International calls to step back
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, held separate calls on Friday with counterparts in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, according to a Turkish official who spoke anonymously. No further details were given. In October, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia helped facilitate talks between the two sides.
Mujahid said Afghanistan still wanted a peaceful outcome and continued to favour dialogue. UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged both countries to settle disputes through diplomacy and to protect civilians.
Russia called for an immediate end to the fighting and a diplomatic solution, Russian diplomat Zamir Kabulov told RIA Novosti. Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan, said Russia would consider mediating if asked, the agency reported.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, urged both countries to settle differences through talks during Ramadan. He also said Tehran was ready to help support dialogue.
Pakistani officials said dozens of Afghan refugees near the Torkham crossing had been moved to safer locations.
Pakistan began a broad crackdown in October 2023, aiming to remove undocumented migrants. Authorities told people to leave voluntarily or face arrest and forced removal. Around the same time, Iran also launched a crackdown on migrants.
Since then, millions have crossed into Afghanistan. Many had been born in Pakistan decades ago, building families, jobs, and businesses there. The UN refugee agency said 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan in 2025. It added that nearly 80,000 have returned so far this year.
