3 minutes of readingUpdated: Mar 3, 2026 07:58 pm IST
Afghanistan’s ground forces He attacked Pakistani military positions. at 16 locations along the southwest border early Tuesday and fired at multiple points in the northwest, sparking intense clashes that left 67 Afghan security forces and one Pakistani soldier dead, as fighting between the two neighbors entered its fifth straight day, officials said.
Pakistan “successfully repelled these multiple attacks” along the Afghan border, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. Afghan forces carried out ground attacks at 16 locations in the southwestern districts of Qilla Saifullah, Nushki and Chaman in Balochistan province, Tarar el
Tarar said Afghan forces also launched attacks at 25 locations in the northwestern border regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Pakistani troops killed 40 Afghan security forces. Kabul had no immediate comment on the Pakistani figures.
However, Pakistan and Afghanistan have both repeatedly claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other side since Thursday, when Afghanistan launched strikes in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday. Pakistan has since carried out operations along the border, and Tarar said on Monday that 435 members of the Afghan security forces were killed and 31 positions were captured in the fighting.
In recent days, Kabul has also said its forces inflicted significant losses on the Pakistani army. The latest announcement on the killing of Afghan forces came a day after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari defended the ongoing attacks in Afghanistan, saying Islamabad had tried all forms of diplomacy before attacking militants operating from Afghan territory. He called on Kabul to disarm the groups responsible for the attacks in Pakistan.
‘Open war’
Pakistan has described its operations as an “open war” with Afghanistan, alarming the international community. The border area remains a stronghold of militant organizations, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Pakistan has seen a rise in violence in recent months, which it attributes to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which operates inside Pakistan and from Afghan territory.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing safe havens to the TTP, which Kabul denies.
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The latest cross-border fighting ended a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Türkiye in October. Talks in Istanbul failed to produce a permanent deal, and Pakistani authorities have said operations will continue until Afghanistan’s Taliban government takes practical and verifiable steps to curb the TTP and other militants behind the violence in Pakistan.
