PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday its forces had repelled coordinated attacks by Afghan Taliban fighters at multiple points along their shared border in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, accusing Kabul’s forces of destroying a key trade gate and endangering civilians.
The clashes came days after some of the heaviest cross-border fighting in recent years, in which Pakistan said 23 of its soldiers were killed while Afghan authorities claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani troops. The escalation has strained already frayed ties, coming as Afghanistan’s foreign minister visited archrival India. Pakistan views New Delhi’s growing influence in Afghanistan as a regional security threat, given their own long-standing rivalry.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated sharply since 2021, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Hopes for cooperation soon gave way to distrust as cross-border militancy surged, particularly in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan says the Afghan Taliban are sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegation, saying it does not permit its territory to be used against other countries.
