According to the Taliban, women and children were among those killed in the attacks.
Published on March 13, 2026
Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of attacking civilian homes in overnight airstrikes in the capital Kabul and the southern province of Kandahar, as fighting between the two neighbors entered its third week, overshadowed by the US-Israel war against Iran that inflames the Middle East.
According to the Taliban, women and children were among those killed in the attacks.
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Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Friday that Pakistani jets also attacked fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near Kandahar airport.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan’s military or government.
Both sides have ignored calls for restraint from the international community.
On Thursday, the Taliban government said four members of the same family, including two children, were killed by Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in eastern Afghanistan.
The deaths reported Thursday bring to seven the number of people killed in Afghanistan since Tuesday in cross-border clashes, according to authorities in Kabul. That number could increase with the latest attacks on Friday.
Fighting between the two countries intensified on February 26, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along their shared border in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes against the Pakistani Taliban, just two days before the United States and Israel attacked Iran, starting an expanding regional war.
Pakistan maintains that it does not target civilians and casualty claims from both sides are difficult to independently verify.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring fighters from the Pakistani Taliban, who have claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks inside Pakistan, and the ISIS affiliate (ISIL) in Khorasan province. Afghan authorities deny the accusation.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has said 56 civilians have been killed there, including 24 children, in Pakistani military operations between February 26 and March 5.
Pakistani officials have confirmed that about 12 soldiers were killed and 27 wounded in the latest bout of fighting, while the Taliban claim to have killed more than 150.
According to the UN, some 115,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
