Pakistan has declared “open war” against Afghanistan and has launched airstrikes on its capital city Kabul.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said early Friday the country had made every effort to avoid conflict.
“Our patience has run out. Now there is an open war,” said the minister.
In response, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: “The cowardly Pakistani military has carried out airstrikes in certain areas of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia.”
Pakistan’s spokesman for the Prime Minister, Mosharraf Zaidi, said 133 Afghan Taliban were confirmed dead in retaliatory strikes, and an additional 200 wounded.
He added that there would be many more casualties after strikes on Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar military targets.
Mr Zaidi also claimed 27 Afghan Taliban posts had been destroyed, with nine captured.
He said military targets destroyed included two corps headquarters, three brigade headquarters, two ammunition depots, one logistics base, three battalion headquarters, and two sector headquarters.
Fireballs have been seen above Afghanistan’s capital | XAttacks to equipment were said to include 80 tanks, artillery, and armed personnel carriers.
He warned that Pakistan’s response to Thursday’s border clashes would continue.
It comes as yesterday Pakistan’s security forces responded to an attack on multiple points along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border.
Pakistani troops were said to have delivered an “immediate and effective response”, inflicting multiple casualties and destroying multiple posts and equipment.
Pakistani air strike hit a residential area in Afghanistan on February 22, deepening tensions in the Middle East and Afghanistan’s own economic and social crises | GETTYThe Taliban claimed to have killed 40 Pakistani soldiers in the clash, with Pakistan claiming it had killed 22 Taliban personnel and shot down several quadcopters.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, said Pakistani had only suffered two fatalities and an additional 2 injuries.
He alleged 36 Taliban fighters had “reached hell” in the Thursday clashes, and accused both the Taliban and Indian social media accounts of spreading propaganda.
Mujahid said Afghanistan would be willing to target Pakistan’s “key centres and important cities” if there were attacks against Kabul or other major cities.
Kabul has denied claims the terrorist organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) used Afghanistan territory as a safe haven to plan attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistan struck within Afghanistan to target what it claimed were militant camps harboring the TTP.
Earlier this month, Pakistani security forces killed 145 militants in an attack against the Baloch Liberation Army on the shared border.
Tensions and violence have been growing over the shared 1,633 mile border, known as the Durand line, since 2024, which Afghanistan does not formally recognise.
