Pakistani Defense Minister says his country is in “open war” with Afghanistan after recent strikes

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged cross-border attacks overnight in a major escalation of tensions that prompted Pakistan’s defense minister to say Friday that the two countries were in a state of “open war.”

Read more: Pak-Afghan peace talks collapse in Istanbul amid escalating border tensions

Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan late Thursday, saying it was in response to deadly Pakistani air strikes on Afghan border areas on Sunday. Pakistan then carried out air strikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday, saying they targeted military facilities.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in television statements from Kandahar on Friday, “We have targeted important military targets in Pakistan, and we are sending a message that our hands can reach their necks and that we will respond to every evil act carried out by Pakistan.” He added, “Pakistan has never sought to solve problems through dialogue.”

After the Afghan strikes, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a post on X: “Our patience has run out now. Now it is an open war between us.”

Asif said that Pakistan hopes to achieve peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021, and expects the Taliban, which has seized power in the country, to focus on the well-being of the Afghan people and regional stability.

Instead, he said, the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India”, with which Pakistan has periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947. India’s relations with Afghanistan have improved recently, with offers to boost bilateral trade, much to the annoyance of Islamabad.

Read more: Why is the Kashmir conflict not just a border dispute between India and Pakistan?

Tensions have been rising for months, with border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban government of harboring militant groups that then launch attacks across the border and also of allying itself with its arch-rival India.

A Qatari-brokered ceasefire ended the fighting, although the two sides still exchange fire from time to time. Several rounds of peace talks in Istanbul in November failed to reach a permanent agreement.

“Exporting terrorism”

Afghan authorities in the eastern Nangarhar province said that fighting was continuing in the Torkham border area on Friday morning. The provincial Information Directorate said that Pakistani mortar shells hit civilian areas in Torkham, including a refugee camp that was evacuated overnight. In response, Afghanistan targeted Pakistani army positions across the border, it added.

Asif accused Afghanistan of “exporting terrorism.” Islamabad often directs these accusations against its western neighbor with the escalation of armed violence in Pakistan, accusing Afghanistan of supporting the Pakistani Taliban and banned Baloch separatist groups.

Read more: Pakistan said its forces killed 54 militants who tried to sneak across the border from Afghanistan

Pakistan accuses the Pakistani Taliban – separate from the Afghan Taliban but closely allied with it – of operating from within Afghanistan. The movement and Kabul deny this charge.

“The internal conflict in Pakistan is a purely internal issue and not a new issue,” Mujahid said Friday, noting that the Pakistani Taliban movement has been active for nearly two decades.

Pakistan has often accused its neighbor India of supporting the banned Balochistan Liberation Army and the Pakistani Taliban, something New Delhi denies.

Retaliatory strikes

Afghanistan said Thursday’s cross-border attack was in response to deadly Pakistani air strikes on Afghan border areas on Sunday.
Governments have made sharply differing claims about casualties.

Pakistani army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that Pakistani air and ground operations killed at least 274 members of the Afghan forces and their militants and wounded more than 400, while 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 27 others were wounded. A Pakistani soldier was lost during the fighting.

Read more: The Taliban government says Afghanistan kills dozens of Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border attack

Mujahid rejected the allegations about the high number of Afghan casualties, describing them as “false.” He added that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, and the bodies of 23 of them were transferred to Afghanistan. He also said that “many” Pakistani soldiers had been captured. He added that 13 Afghan soldiers were killed, 22 others were wounded, and 13 civilians were injured. He added that a religious school in Paktika province was bombed on Friday morning, adding that no information was yet available about possible casualties there.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims of victims on either side.

Pakistani Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said that Pakistani anti-drone systems shot down several small drones over the cities of Abbottabad, Swabi and Nowshera in the northwest of the country on Friday. He added that the drones appeared to be part of a failed attack carried out by the Pakistani Taliban, and that there were no casualties. Tarar claimed that the drone attacks “once again revealed the direct links between the Afghan Taliban regime and terrorism in Pakistan.”

International calls for restraint

A Turkish official said that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate phone calls with his Pakistani, Afghan, Qatari and Saudi counterparts on Friday to discuss the conflict, without providing details of the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

In October, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia facilitated talks between the two sides.

Read more: Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to respect the ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey

Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan government, said on Friday that his country “always emphasizes the peaceful solution, and we still want to solve the problem through dialogue.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both sides to protect civilians as required by international law and “to continue to seek to resolve any differences through diplomacy,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Russian diplomat Zamir Kabulov told the RIA Novosti news agency that Russia called for an immediate cessation of fighting and a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Kabulov, who is President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan, said that Moscow would consider mediating between the two countries if asked to do so, according to RIA Novosti.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their differences through dialogue during the holy month of Ramadan. He also said that Tehran is ready to help facilitate dialogue.

Refugees on the border

Pakistani authorities said that dozens of Afghan refugees in the Torkham border area were transferred to safer places.

He watches: Afghans seeking asylum in Pakistan have been ordered to leave or face forced deportation

Pakistan launched a massive crackdown in October 2023 to expel undocumented migrants, urging those in the country to leave of their own free will to avoid arrest and forced expulsion of others. Iran also began a crackdown on migrants around the same time.

Since then, millions have crossed the border into Afghanistan, including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and built their lives and businesses there.

The UNHCR said that in 2025, 2.9 million people will return to Afghanistan, with nearly 80,000 people returning so far this year.