Pakistan said early Thursday that it had carried out airstrikes on 10 sites in Afghanistan that it said were used to launch drone attacks against Pakistan.Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes targeted sites linked to what Pakistan described as attempted attacks from Afghan territory. He said the strikes were “deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate” and limited to military objectives.The announcement came after Pakistani officials said Afghan Taliban forces had launched eight rudimentary drones and shelled Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as an attempted cross-border infiltration by militants.There was no immediate response from Kabul to the latest Pakistani strikes. Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had denied on Wednesday that Afghan Taliban forces carried out attacks against Pakistan.
Pakistan accuses Taliban of backing militants
According to four Pakistani officials, the attempted infiltration took place near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces. The militants were described by Islamabad as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term it uses for the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).The officials said Afghan Taliban forces allegedly provided support to the militants and later fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts after the infiltration attempt was thwarted. Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire targeting Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive sites.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the latest escalation publicly, said some Afghan Taliban positions were subsequently abandoned and that there were casualties. The accounts could not be independently verified.Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul has denied the allegations.Pakistani officials also said eight drones launched from Afghanistan were shot down before they could reach Kohat and the border town of Torkham. They said the drones caused no damage.
Escalation threatens mediation efforts
The latest confrontation follows Pakistani airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan on Monday, which Islamabad said targeted militant hideouts. Pakistan said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities reported at least three civilian deaths and four injuries. The UN mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties, and Kabul formally protested the strikes.The latest fighting threatens mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have been seeking to ease tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.The escalation also follows a series of deadly militant attacks in Pakistan’s north-west. Six Pakistani security personnel were killed in a shootout with militants in Hangu, while a suicide bombing and subsequent gunbattle at a police compound in nearby Kohat killed at least 21 people.