Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday declared “open war” on the Taliban government, after both sides clashed.
“Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open war between us and you,” Khawaja Asif posted on X, according to news agency AFP on Friday.
Asif’s statement came as tensions between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban this week.
Pakistan bombs Kabul, Kandahar
Pakistan bombed Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan on Friday, hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly air strikes.
Pakistan said its “armed forces have given a befitting response” to the Afghan Taliban, AFP reported.
“Afghan Taliban defence targets were targeted in Kabul, Paktia [province] and Kandahar,” Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X.
The Taliban government confirmed the Pakistani air strikes, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying there were no casualties.
Pak attack follows Taliban’s ‘large-scale offensive operations’
Hours earlier, Zabihullah Mujahid had announced “large-scale offensive operations” at the border “in response to repeated violations by the Pakistani military”.
The Afghan defence ministry reported eight of its soldiers had been killed in the land offensive.
According to AFP, an Afghan official reported multiple civilians wounded near the Torkham border crossing, at a camp for people returning from Pakistan.
“A mortar shell has hit the camp and unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious,” said Qureshi Badlun, the information chief in Nangarhar province.
The border has largely been closed since fighting in October, although Afghan returnees have been allowed to cross.
‘Pakistani soldiers caught alive’
Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, told AFP that several Pakistani soldiers had been “caught alive”, a claim denied by the prime minister’s office in Islamabad.
The military operation follows Pakistani strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces overnight into Sunday, which the UN mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians.
The Taliban government said at least 18 people were killed and denied Pakistan’s announcement that the military operation left more than 80 militants dead.
Both sides also reported cross-border fire on Tuesday, but without casualties.
Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
(With inputs from AFP)
