Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif earlier declared that his country was in “open war” with its western neighbour.
Officials in Islamabad say Afghan forces have suffered nearly 1,000 casualties in the latest cross-border escalation with Pakistan.
At least 415 Taliban fighters and allied militants have been killed and more than 580 wounded in airstrikes and clashes since Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. He shared the statistics in a post on Saturday X.
The minister said 182 Afghan checkpoints along with 185 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces were destroyed with airstrikes targeting 46 locations across the country.
Kabul has not commented on the figures cited by Tarar. Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on Saturday that 78 people, mostly women and children, had been killed in the three-day border clashes, including 12 Pakistani soldiers and one civilian and 13 Afghan soldiers and 52 Afghan civilians. Casualties were reported in Paktika, Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar and Kandahar provinces, he said in separate statements in X.
Neither side’s figures could be independently verified.
Pakistan launched heavy shelling and airstrikes on its western neighbor early Friday in response to Afghan Taliban forces firing on Pakistani border positions earlier in the day, killing two soldiers.
Kabul described the cross-border fire as: “Retaliation Operations” After last Sunday’s airstrikes by Pakistan. Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif later called the escalation “Open War” Blame it on the Afghan Taliban government “Exporting Terrorism.”
Relations between the neighbors have steadily deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the US withdrawal. Since March 2024, border clashes have become more frequent, culminating in October 2025 when the Pakistani army captured 19 Afghan border posts with Taliban forces.
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Afghanistan is a ‘colony’ of India – Pakistan
Relations have soured in recent months as Pakistan accuses militants of operating from Afghan territory with the support of the Taliban government – a claim Kabul denies. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of expanding military and political ties with India at Islamabad’s expense, but says Kabul has the right to develop ties with any country.
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