Pakistan–Afghanistan war: Kabul launches drone strikes; Islamabad claims no casualties

Afghanistan said on Friday it carried out drone strikes on Pakistani military establishments as fighting between the two neighbours continued. Pakistan, meanwhile, said it shot down the drones using its anti-drone systems and reported no casualties.

Afghanistan's military launched attacks late Thursday along the border in six provinces. It described the action as retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes under 'Operation Ghazab Lil Haq' carried out on Sunday in Afghan border areas which Islamabad said was due to the "irrefutable evidence" that militants in Afghanistan were behind a recent wave of attacks and suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Afghan authorities in Nangarhar province said fighting was ongoing in the Torkham border area on Friday morning.






They also claimed Pakistani mortar fire hit civilian areas, including a refugee camp that had been evacuated overnight, as Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, said the country now considered itself in an “open war” with Afghanistan.

Both sides gave different casualty figures. Afghanistan’s defence ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and eight Afghan soldiers died. Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three wounded. A spokesperson for prime minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected claims that Pakistani soldiers were captured and said more than 100 Afghan fighters were killed.

The United Nations and a host of other countries, including Iran and China, have urged both countries to protect civilians and resolve their differences through diplomacy, and called for an immediate halt to the fighting.

Earlier in October, border clashes between the two countries killed dozens of soldiers. The fighting stopped after talks mediated by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, leading to a fragile ceasefire.

The current confrontation follows years of worsening ties after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan had initially welcomed the takeover. Then Prime Minister Imran Khan said Afghans had “broken the shackles of slavery”. However, relations later turned tense.

Islamabad says the leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and many of its fighters are operating from Afghanistan. It also alleges that insurgents seeking independence for Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province use Afghan territory as a safe haven.