Pakistan confirmed on Thursday that it carried out "planned and calibrated" airstrikes inside Afghanistan, saying its jets hit militant camps and hideouts belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other groups. Kabul says nine people were killed and eleven injured — including women and children — calling the strikes a violation of international principles.
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| The mountainous Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban government says Pakistani airstrikes destroyed three houses on Thursday. |
What Pakistan Says
The confirmation came from Pakistan's information ministry, which posted a statement on the social media platform X on Thursday morning. "Based on credible intelligence, selective targeting of terrorist camps and hideouts at two locations belonging to Fitna al Khawarij, Fitna al Hindustan and their affiliates has been carried out in Afghanistan with precision and accuracy," the ministry said, according to the Turkish outlet Anews.
Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan are the official labels Islamabad now uses for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and for separatist militants in Balochistan respectively. The government says both groups plan and direct cross-border attacks from Afghan soil — an accusation that has poisoned relations between the two neighbors for years.
What Kabul Says
The Afghan Taliban government tells a sharply different story. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X that the strikes destroyed three houses in Kunar and Helmand provinces, killing at least nine people — including women and children — and injuring eleven more.
"We condemn this act as an aggression and crime in violation of all accepted principles," Mujahid said. Reuters reported his statement on Thursday morning, adding that it could not independently verify either side's casualty claims. Pakistan's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Three Months of Calm, Now Shattered
The strikes ended three months of relative calm between the South Asian neighbors, according to Reuters — a fragile quiet that now appears to be over. Tensions had been building for weeks.
Just days earlier, on September 26, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden tractor-trolley into a joint police-customs checkpost in DI Khan's Darazinda area, killing twelve people and wounding more than thirty. The TTP claimed responsibility for that attack. Pakistani officials have repeatedly warned that unless Kabul acts against militant sanctuaries, Islamabad will strike across the border itself.
Islamabad's position is that the Afghan Taliban government harbors the TTP and refuses to restrain it, despite repeated warnings. Kabul denies the charge outright, insisting that Pakistan's militancy problem is an internal one and that Afghan territory is not being used against any neighbor.
Reactions and Fallout
International reaction was still forming as details emerged. Pakistan's position, long telegraphed through official warnings, is that the strikes were a defensive counterterrorism operation. Local Pakistani outlets, citing government sources, named the operation under the country's wider Azm-e-Istehkam counterterrorism drive, though Islamabad has not officially released that detail.
The episode adds to a volatile week in the region. Pakistan is also managing domestic political tension, with the opposition PTI announcing plans for a long march on October 4, and the government discussing constitutional options in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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| The Bab-e-Khyber monument in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan that has borne the brunt of cross-border militancy. |
What This Means
The airstrikes mark a dangerous new turn in the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship, which has swung between uneasy truces and open confrontation since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has carried out cross-border strikes before, but each one raises the same fundamental question: can Kabul — or will it — rein in the militants Pakistan blames for a rising wave of attacks?
For ordinary Afghans in the border provinces, the strikes are a terrifying reminder that the war across the border can reach them at home. For Pakistanis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, they are a sign that their government is willing to act unilaterally when it believes diplomacy has failed.
The civilian casualties alleged by Kabul will complicate Islamabad's narrative. Even in counterterrorism operations, strikes that kill women and children invite condemnation at home and abroad — and they risk hardening, rather than breaking, the very militancy they aim to destroy.
What Happens Next
The immediate risk is retaliation. The TTP has already shown it can strike deep inside Pakistan, and its backers may choose to answer the airstrikes with attacks on Pakistani security forces or civilian targets. Kabul could also escalate diplomatically, taking its case to regional forums or the United Nations.
Watch for three things in the coming days: whether Pakistan's military issues its own detailed statement on the operation; whether Kabul releases the names and identities of those killed, which would test Islamabad's claim that only militants were targeted; and whether the fighting stops here or becomes the start of a sustained cross-border campaign.
If the quiet of the last three months is truly over, South Asia may be entering a new and more dangerous phase — one where drones and fighter jets do the talking, and diplomacy is left behind.
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