Afghanistan launches retaliatory attacks on Pakistan border posts; several soldiers killed, captured

Taliban claims to have killed and captured Pakistani soldiers in cross-border clashes along the Durand Line, while Pakistan reports unprovoked Afghan fire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and raises nationwide security alert.

The Taliban administration said on Thursday that its forces killed and captured several Pakistani soldiers during a cross-border offensive launched in retaliation for recent airstrikes it described as deadly.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in posts on X that multiple Pakistani troops were killed and others taken prisoner. He added that large-scale operations had been launched against Pakistani military positions along the Durand Line in response to what he called repeated provocations.

According to Mujahid, specialised units equipped with laser-guided systems also began operating overnight along the frontier.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said it had taken “immediate” action after what it termed unprovoked firing by Afghan forces along the shared border. Islamabad’s information ministry said Afghan troops opened fire at several posts in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, triggering more than two hours of clashes before Pakistani forces retaliated.

The exchange marks another escalation in tensions between the two neighbouring countries along their volatile border.

Afghan forces opened fire on posts in Pakistan’s mountainous northwest, sparking more than two hours of fighting before Pakistani troops retaliated, Pakistani officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The clashes along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) are the latest flare-up to threaten a fragile ceasefire following deadly clashes in October.

Earlier this week, the Taliban warned it would make an “appropriate and measured response” to airstrikes launched by Pakistan over the weekend on what Islamabad said were camps of militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State in Khorasan Province in eastern Afghanistan.

Islamabad says TTP leaders operate from Afghan territory and use it as a safe haven to plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.

“In response to repeated provocations and violations by Pakistani military circles, large-scale offensive operations have been launched against Pakistani military positions and installations along the Durand Line,” the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a post on X.

“Specialised laser units have also begun ope