Afghan Taliban confirm ‘retaliatory’ border attacks on Pakistan

The Taliban government has confirmed that it attacked Pakistani troops in multiple mountainous locations on the northern border.

Casualties are not yet clear in what the Taliban called “retaliatory operations”, after it said Pakistan violated Afghan airspace and bombed a market inside its border on Thursday.

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the Taliban attacks “unprovoked”, accusing them of firing at civilians. Pakistani forces would respond “with a stone for every brick”, he warned.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring terrorists who target Pakistan on its soil, a claim the Taliban reject. The escalation came as the Afghan Taliban foreign minister was in India for an historic visit.

Both sides are said to have used small arms and artillery in the Kunar-Kurram region, the BBC understands.

Saying he “strongly condemns” the Taliban’s attacks, Naqvi stated: “The firing by Afghan forces on civilian populations is a blatant violation of international laws.

“Afghanistan is playing a game of fire and blood,” he said in a post on X.

A Pakistani military spokesman said they would take necessary measures to safeguard Pakistani lives and properties.

Pakistan’s military has not officially commented, but a security source told the BBC firing took place at several locations along the Pakistani-Afghan border, including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral and Baramcha.

A police official stationed near the Zero Point in Kurram district told the BBC that heavy weapons fire began from the Afghan side around 22:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

He said they had received reports of intense gunfire from multiple locations along the border.

Last week, Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of violating Kabul’s “sovereign territory”, as two loud blasts were heard in the city late on Thursday.

Pakistan bombed a civilian market in the border province of Paktika, in Afghanistan’s south-east, the Taliban Defence Ministry said on Friday. Locals there told the BBC’s Afghan service that a number of shops had been destroyed.

A top Pakistani general alleged Afghanistan was being used as a “base of operation for terrorism against Pakistan”.

Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of permitting the Pakistan Taliban, known as the TTP, to operate from their land and fight against the Islamabad government in a bid to enforce a strict Islamic-led system of governance.

The Taliban government has always denied this.

The latest escalation came as the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was in India for a week-long visit. In a diplomatic thaw, Delhi said that it would reopen the embassy in Kabul, which was shut four years ago when the Taliban returned to power.

“Afghanistan will also be given a befitting reply like India, so that it will not dare to look at Pakistan with a malicious eye,” Naqvi warned.

In a statement, Saudi Arabia, which signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan last month, called for self-restraint and avoidance of escalation between Islamabad and Kabul.

Qatar also issued a statement, expressing concern over the Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions and saying that it “urges both sides to prioritise dialogue, diplomacy, and restraint”.