Pakistan carried out airstrikes early Friday on targets in Afghanistan, including Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, in the sharpest escalation between the two countries since last year’s Qatar-mediated ceasefire. Reuters and AP both reported that the strikes came hours after Afghan forces launched cross-border attacks on Pakistani positions, extending several days of worsening clashes along the frontier.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, said the confrontation had become “open war,” but that wording came from the minister rather than a formal declaration by the Pakistani state. AP reported that Islamabad said it had exhausted its patience after what it described as Afghan attacks from across the border, while the Taliban government in Kabul confirmed the strikes and condemned them.
The two sides are presenting very different accounts of what was hit and what the strikes achieved. Reuters reported that Pakistan said it targeted Taliban posts, headquarters and ammunition-related sites, while Afghan officials said the attacks caused civilian casualties and damage in urban areas. Claims about deaths, injuries and destroyed positions differ sharply between the two governments and have not been independently verified.
What is clearer is the broader cause of the breakdown. Pakistan says militants use Afghan territory to organize attacks inside Pakistan, a charge the Taliban denies. Reuters and AP both say that dispute has driven months of deteriorating relations, repeated border clashes and growing pressure on already strained diplomatic ties.
The latest exchange also appears to have widened the conflict beyond the usual border sectors. Reuters described the Friday strikes as the first time Pakistan directly targeted Taliban government-controlled sites in major Afghan cities, a sign that the confrontation has moved into a more dangerous phase than the smaller cross-border exchanges seen in recent months.
The immediate risk now is not only another round of retaliatory fire, but a longer cycle of tit-for-tat military action along the border and beyond it. Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia, China and Russia have raised de-escalation and possible mediation, while AP said the U.N. and regional governments were urging restraint as the fighting threatened to spread further.
For now, there is no confirmed ceasefire and no announced diplomatic breakthrough. The next meaningful sign of whether this can be contained will be either a pause in retaliatory strikes or a formal mediation channel accepted by both sides. Until then, the most important fact is that the conflict has moved from recurring border violence into a much more openly declared and far less predictable confrontation.
Sources:
Reuters Associated Press
