Pakistan’s protection minister says that there's an 'open warfare' with Afghanistan

[ad_1] ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged cross-border assaults in a single day in a dramatic escalation of tensions that led Pakistan’s protection minister to say on Friday that the 2 nations are in a state of “open warfare.”

Afghanistan launched a cross-border assault on Pakistan late Thursday, saying it was in retaliation for lethal Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday. Pakistan then carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two different Afghan provinces early Friday, saying it focused army installations.

“We now have focused vital army targets in Pakistan, sending a message that our arms can attain their throats and that we'll reply to each evil act of Pakistan,” Afghan authorities spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid mentioned in televised feedback from Kandahar Friday. “Pakistan has by no means sought to resolve issues via dialogue.”

After the Afghan strikes, Pakistan’s Protection Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif mentioned in a put up on X: “Our endurance has now run out. Now it's open warfare between us.”

Asif mentioned Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021 and anticipated the Taliban, which seized energy within the nation, to concentrate on the welfare of the Afghan individuals and regional stability.

As a substitute, he mentioned the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “right 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 ties with Afghanistan have improved just lately, with gives of enhanced bilateral commerce, to the annoyance of Islamabad.

Tensions have been high for months, with border clashes in October killing dozens of troopers, civilians and suspected militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of harboring militant teams that then stage assaults throughout the border and in addition of allying with its archrival India.

A Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the combating, though the 2 sides nonetheless sometimes commerce fireplace. A number of rounds of peace talks in Istanbul in November failed to provide an enduring settlement.

Afghan Taliban troopers stand on the Afghan aspect of the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Picture/Wahidullah Kakar)

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‘Exporting terrorism’ Afghan authorities within the japanese Nangarhar province mentioned combating was ongoing within the Torkham border space Friday morning. The province’s data directorate mentioned Pakistani mortar fireplace hit civilian areas in Torkham, together with a refugee camp which had been evacuated in a single day. In response, Afghanistan was concentrating on Pakistani military posts throughout the border, it mentioned.

Asif accused Afghanistan of “exporting terrorism.” Islamabad continuously levies the allegation at its western neighbor as militant violence has surged in Pakistan , accusing Afghanistan of supporting the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and outlawed Baloch separatist teams.

Pakistan accuses the TTP — which is separate from however carefully allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban — of working from inside Afghanistan. Each the group and Kabul deny that cost.

“Pakistan’s inner battle is a purely home concern and isn't a brand new one,” Mujahid mentioned Friday, noting the TTP had been energetic for almost 20 years.

Pakistan has additionally continuously accused neighboring India of backing the outlawed Baloch Liberation Military and the Pakistani Taliban, allegations New Delhi denies.

Retaliatory strikes

A villager seems to be at broken photo voltaic plates and a portion following in a single day cross border combating between Pakistan and Afghan forces, at a village in Bajaur, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering with Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Picture)

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A person, who was injured within the in a single day cross border combating between Pakistan and Afghan forces, receives remedy at a hospital in Khar, in Bajaur, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering with Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Picture/Anwarullah Khan)

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Afghanistan mentioned Thursday’s cross-border assault was in retaliation for lethal Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday.

The governments have issued sharply differing casualty claims.

Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry mentioned Pakistani air and floor operations killed not less than 274 members of Afghan forces and affiliated militants and wounded greater than 400, whereas 12 Pakistani troopers have been killed and 27 others have been wounded. One Pakistani soldier was lacking in motion.

Mujahid rejected the claims of the excessive variety of Afghan casualties as “false.” He mentioned 55 Pakistani troopers have been killed with the our bodies of 23 of them taken to Afghanistan. He additionally mentioned “many” Pakistani troopers have been captured. 13 Afghan troopers had been killed, he mentioned, and one other 22 wounded, whereas 13 civilians have been additionally wounded. A spiritual faculty in Paktika province was bombed on Friday morning, he added, saying data on potential casualties there was not but accessible.

The casualty claims of both aspect couldn't be independently verified.

Pakistan’s Info Minister Attaullah Tarar mentioned Pakistan’s anti-drone techniques shot down a number of small drones over the northwestern cities of Abbottabad, Swabi, and Nowshera Friday. He mentioned the drones seemed to be a part of a failed assault by the Pakistani Taliban, and there have been no casualties. Tarar claimed the drone assaults “as soon as once more uncovered direct linkages between the Afghan Taliban regime and terrorism in Pakistan.”

Worldwide requires restraint Turkey’s Overseas Minister Hakan Fidan held separate cellphone calls along with his Pakistani, Afghan, Qatari and Saudi counterparts on Friday to debate the battle, a Turkish official mentioned, with out offering particulars on the talks. The official spoke on situation of anonymity according to authorities coverage.

In October, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia had facilitated talks between the edges.

On Friday, Mujahid, the Afghan authorities spokesman, mentioned his nation had “all the time emphasised a peaceable answer, and we nonetheless wish to resolve the issue via dialogue.”

U.N. Secretary-Normal António Guterres urged either side to guard civilians as required below worldwide legislation and “to proceed to hunt to resolve any variations via diplomacy,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mentioned in an announcement.

Russia known as for a direct halt to the combating and for a diplomatic decision to the battle, Russian diplomat Zamir Kabulov instructed information company RIA Novosti. Kabulov, who's President Vladimir Putin’s particular envoy for Afghanistan, mentioned that Moscow would think about mediating between the 2 nations if requested, in line with RIA Novosti.

Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their variations via dialogue throughout the holy month of Ramadan. He additionally mentioned that Tehran was prepared to help in facilitating dialogue.

Refugees on the border Pakistani authorities mentioned that dozens of Afghan refugees in the Torkham border space had been relocated to safer locations.

Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in October 2023 to expel migrants with out paperwork, urging these within the nation to go away of their very own accord to keep away from arrest and forcibly expelling others. Iran additionally started a crackdown on migrants at across the identical time.

Since then, thousands and thousands have crossed the border into Afghanistan, together with people who were born in Pakistan a long time in the past and had constructed lives and created companies there.

In 2025, 2.9 million individuals returned to Afghanistan , the U.N. refugee company has mentioned, with almost 80,000 having returned to date this 12 months.

___

Abdul Qahar Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Related Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, additionally contributed to this story.

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