Afghan Taliban Attacks Met with Pakistani Strikes on Kabul

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February 27, 2026 | 09:55 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Both Afghanistan and Pakistan acknowledged fighting in border areas on Thursday, albeit disagreeing markedly on exact developments on the ground and the extent of each other's losses and gains.

It's the latest escalation of violence between the uneasy neighbors in tensions that can ultimately be traced all the way back to the Taliban reclaiming control of Afghanistan in 2021, but which were most recently evident last Sunday with Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.

Both sides also reported cross-border fire on Tuesday, but without casualties.

What did Afghanistan say about the fighting?

The Taliban's government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reported fighting in the border regions late on Thursday local time.

He portrayed it as a response to Sunday's airstrikes that Afghanistan decried as an unauthorized incursion.

"In response to the repeated rebellions and insurrections of the Pakistani military, large-scale offensive operations were launched against Pakistani military bases and military installations along the Durand line," Mujahid said in a post on X that began with what appeared to be a religious proverb.

The Durand line is the name for the two countries' 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border, which Afghanistan has not recognized.

Mujahid followed this up with frequent posts, some including an image, but most simply text, claiming various military gains along the border.

Most followed a consistent formula, announcing the capture of a military facility or post in a given district and concluding with a stock sentence saying: "A large number of the enemy's soldiers have been killed and wounded, and some have been captured alive." Besides place names, and the occasional photo of what appeared to be casualties, very few precise details were offered.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said that operations were taking place in five provinces. The Taliban's deputy government spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said in an English language post that "up to 55" Pakistani soldiers had been killed, with the remains of 23 of them brought back to Afghanistan, and that an undisclosed number had been captured.

Pakistan said it hit Kabul, Kandahar and rejects Taliban claims

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar disputed both the claims on casualties and captures and of territorial losses.

Tarar said that two Pakistani soldiers had been killed and three wounded.

On X, he wrote that Pakistan was mounting a "strong and effective response" to what he called an unprovoked attack from Afghanistan, and said that Islamabad would continue to do so. Explosions were later reported in Kabul after the Pakistani statement.

Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, spokesman for Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, "said a total of 133 Afghan Taliban are confirmed killed, more than 200 wounded. Many more casualties estimated in strikes in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar military targets."

Simmering tensions for years, closer to the boil more recently

Long-testy relations between the neighbors deteriorated sharply in recent months, hitting a low point with the deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Land border crossings have been largely shut since.

Several rounds of talks followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but no lasting agreement has materialized in the conflict.

Saudi Arabia this month managed to negotiate the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured in October.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that it says also act out of Afghanistan, which the Taliban deny. Chief among these is the TTP, often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, but Pakistan would also point to Baloch separatist groups from the border areas.

Pakistan's airstrikes followed a series of deadly suicide blasts including an attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan regional chapter that's primarily active in eastern Afghanistan.

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