Asadullah lives with his wife and six children in a tent on the edge of Asadabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar.The 42-year-old is among the tens of thousands of Afghans who have been displaced by deadly border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months.Pakistan has accused Taliban-controlled Afghanistan of sheltering the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and carried out deadly air strikes in Afghanistan targeting the extremist group. Islamabad’s attacks have triggered retaliatory attacks by the Afghan Taliban and brought the neighbors to the brink of all-out war.
The violence has taken a toll on civilians on both sides of the porous 2,600-kilometer-long border. In Afghanistan, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced, according to UN. While some have returned to their homes, others have become refugees in their own country.Asadullah owned a home and retail store in Asadabad. But both were destroyed in the border clashes, and he now relies on humanitarian aid and donations from locals to survive.“My children are also unable to attend school or access health care facilities,” Asadullah, who only goes by one name, told RFE/RL. “There is a cease-fire in place now, but no one knows what will happen next.”From Allies to FoesIn October 2025, Pakistan carried out unprecedented drone strikes in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, as well as air strikes in the country’s east. It came days after the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack in northwestern Pakistan that killed 11 soldiers.Fierce fighting erupted between Taliban fighters and Pakistani security forces, leaving dozens dead and key border crossings closed.In February, Pakistan carried out air strikes in two of Afghanistan’s largest cities, heightening fears of an all-out war between the two neighbors.Pakistani jets on February 27 bombed military targets in Kabul, the southern city of Kandahar, home to the Taliban’s spiritual leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, and Laghman.In retaliation, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said it launched drone and rocket attacks targeting military installations and security forces in northwestern Pakistan.A Pakistani air strike on a hospital in Kabul in March killed over 100 people, according to the UN. The Afghan Taliban said hundreds of civilians were killed in the deadliest-ever attack carried out by Pakistani forces. Islamabad claimed the strike had targeted military installations and TTP infrastructure.
