Airstrikes hit Afghan capital of Kabul, hours after Afghanistan attacks Pakistan : NPR

KABUL, Afghanistan — Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday, the Afghan government spokesman said, hours after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in the latest escalation of violence between the neighboring countries that has made the Qatar-brokered ceasefire increasingly fragile.

At least three explosions were heard in Kabul, but no information was immediately available on the exact location of the strikes in the Afghan capital, nor on possible victims. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistan had also carried out airstrikes in Kandahar in the south and in the southeastern province of Paktia.

Two senior Pakistani security officials told The Associated Press that the Pakistani military carried out airstrikes targeting what they described as Afghan military installations in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia provinces, allegedly destroying two brigade bases, but they did not mention any potential casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record to the media.

Afghanistan said its army launched an attack across the Pakistani border on Thursday evening in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas on Sunday, and claimed to have captured more than a dozen Pakistani army posts.

The Pakistani government, which had described last Sunday’s airstrikes as an attack on militants harbored in the region, described Thursday’s Afghan attack as unprovoked and rejected claims that military posts had been captured.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record to the media.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is urging both sides to protect civilians as required by international law and to “continue to seek to resolve any dispute through diplomacy,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

Afghan strikes were retaliation

“In response to repeated rebellions and insurgencies by the Pakistani army, large-scale offensive operations have been launched against Pakistani military bases and military installations along the Durand Line,” Mujahid said in a message on X on Thursday evening. The Afghan Defense Ministry said the retaliatory attacks took place along the border in six provinces.

The 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border between the two countries is known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has not officially recognized.

Different casualty figures

The two sides reported very different casualty figures.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, some whose bodies were taken to Afghanistan, while “several others were captured alive.” He estimates his own losses at eight dead and 11 others injured. The ministry said it destroyed 19 Pakistani army posts and two bases and that fighting ended at midnight, about four hours after the attack began.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, said the number of Pakistani soldiers killed stood at two, with three others injured. He said 36 Afghan fighters were believed to have been killed. In an article on X, he said Pakistan was giving a “strong and effective response” to what he called unprovoked firing from Afghanistan.

Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, spokesman for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied that any Pakistani soldiers had been captured. Later, in an article on He did not specify where the victims died, and only added that there were “many more casualties, according to estimates, during the strikes on military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.”

A refugee camp affected

Both sides also reported exchanges of fire in the Torkham border area.

Afghan authorities were evacuating a refugee camp near the Torkham border post after several refugees were injured, said Qureshi Badlon, head of the Torkham Public Information and Awareness Council. The Defense Ministry said 13 civilians, including women and children, were injured in a missile strike on the camp.

On the Pakistani side of the border, police said residents were also evacuating to safer areas, while some Afghan refugees waiting to return to Afghanistan were also moved to safe locations. Pakistan launched a massive crackdown on migrants in October 2023 and deported hundreds of thousands of people.

Pakistani police said mortars fired from Afghanistan landed in nearby villages, but no civilian casualties were reported.

“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said in a message on X.

The Afghan army has released video images of military vehicles moving at night and the sounds of heavy gunfire. The video could not be independently verified.

Months of tension

Tensions have been high between the two neighbors for months, with deadly border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. This violence follows explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blame on Pakistan. Islamabad, at the time, was carrying out strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.

A ceasefire between the two countries, brokered by Qatar, has largely held, but the two sides still occasionally exchanged fire across the border. Several rounds of peace talks in November failed to produce a formal agreement.

The Pakistani army carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan on Sunday, claiming to have killed at least 70 militants.

Afghanistan rejected the claim, saying dozens of civilians had been killed, including women and children. The Defense Ministry said “various civilian areas” in eastern Afghanistan had been hit, including a religious madrassa and several houses. The ministry said the strikes constituted a violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and sovereignty.

Militant violence has increased in Pakistan in recent years, and Pakistan blames much of it on the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and banned Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, an accusation denied by the group and Kabul.