Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated sharply after Afghan Taliban forces reportedly launched armed drone strikes targeting Pakistan’s Command and Control Centre at Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi.
According to the official X account of Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defense, Taliban forces carried out drone strikes on 12th division headquarters in Quetta, and other Pakistani military locations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Today, the Air Force of the Ministry of National Defense conducted precise and coordinated aerial operations against key military installations in Pakistan targeting the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, the 12th Division headquarters in Quetta (Balochistan), the Khwazai Camp in the Mohmand Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as several other significant Pakistani military facilities and command centers,” the ministry said.
Earlier, Taliban officials claimed that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The pilot was reportedly captured alive after parachuting from the aircraft, news agency AFP reported. Local residents told AFP that the pilot was detained shortly after landing.
The developments come amid large-scale cross-border hostilities between the two countries.
On Friday, Pakistan launched airstrikes on the Afghan capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, where Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based. A Pakistani government spokesperson stated that 133 Taliban fighters were killed, more than 200 were injured, and several posts were destroyed or captured.
The Pakistani aerial operations followed what Taliban officials described as a border offensive launched late Thursday in retaliation for earlier Pakistani strikes.
In response to Friday’s strikes, Taliban authorities claimed they carried out cross-border attacks that killed at least 55 Pakistani soldiers. The same day, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared that the country was in an “open war” situation with Afghanistan, marking one of the most significant escalations between the two sides in recent years.
