The Taliban announced in Kabul that three people have been killed in recent Pakistani airstrikes on northeastern Afghanistan. These strikes occurred while the two countries provided conflicting reports on the number of casualties.
Details of the Airstrikes
Hamidullah Fetrat, the deputy spokesperson for the Afghan government, stated that these strikes took place in the provinces of Kunar and Paktika. He wrote on platform X that one of the strikes occurred at 3 AM on Monday in the Nurgal district of Kunar, completely destroying a house and killing three people while four other family members were injured.
Fetrat also added that two other locations in Paktika province were targeted, claiming that a shop and an empty house were destroyed. No official statement has yet been released by Pakistan regarding these strikes.
Background of Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan
These strikes followed a suicide bombing and a 20-hour clash between militants and police on Friday at a police station in Kohat, Pakistan, near the Afghan border. In this attack, at least 31 people, including 16 police officers, were killed. The local group Al-Ansar, affiliated with the militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have soured since the Taliban regained power in 2021. The recent airstrikes threaten to undermine three months of relative calm that had been established following intense clashes between the two countries last February. In that month, Pakistan announced it was in an "open war" with Afghanistan following an increase in militant attacks on civilians and security forces within Pakistan.
Afghanistan retaliated with airstrikes after Pakistan's airstrikes on its territory, and border clashes have since claimed hundreds of lives. The last time Pakistan conducted deadly airstrikes on Afghanistan was in June.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of harboring militant groups that carry out attacks inside Pakistani territory. Among these groups is Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, known as the Pakistani Taliban, as well as Baloch separatist groups from border areas.
The Taliban has denied these accusations, stating that militant activities in Pakistan are an internal problem.
