Pakistan has carried out air and drone strikes against 10 locations inside Afghanistan, saying the sites were used to launch and store drones that had been sent toward Pakistani territory a day earlier. The strikes mark a fresh escalation between the two neighbours as cross-border violence continues to strain already fragile relations.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military operation was conducted in what Islamabad described as an act of self-defence. He said Pakistan’s air-defence systems detected, tracked and neutralised drones launched from Afghan territory on Sept. 23 before they could reach their intended targets.
Islamabad said the 10 locations targeted were linked to drone launching and storage, as well as militant support infrastructure. Pakistan described the strikes as limited to military objectives connected to the alleged attacks and warned that further hostile activity from Afghan territory would receive a response.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government disputed Pakistan’s account and denied that its government had launched drones against Pakistan. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes hit areas in Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces and reported that four civilians were killed. He warned that Afghanistan would respond to the attacks. The competing claims over responsibility and casualties have not been independently verified.
The latest strikes follow another Pakistani air operation inside Afghanistan on Sept. 21. Pakistan said that earlier operation killed 28 militants in Paktika and Kunar, while Afghan authorities and the United Nations reported that three civilians were killed. The attacks came after a rise in militant violence inside Pakistan, including a deadly assault on a police facility in Kohat.
At the centre of the dispute is Pakistan’s longstanding accusation that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks across the border. Islamabad has repeatedly demanded action from Kabul, while the Taliban government rejects accusations that Afghanistan is being used to conduct attacks against Pakistan. (
The escalation also threatens diplomatic efforts involving regional powers seeking to mediate between Islamabad and Kabul. Continued airstrikes, drone incidents and border clashes could make it increasingly difficult to restore the relative calm that had prevailed for several months.
With both sides maintaining sharply different accounts of the latest confrontation, the immediate concern is whether the strikes remain a limited response or trigger another cycle of retaliation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
