Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of targeting homes in airstrikes killing at least 4 civilians

Kabul, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused the Pakistani military early Friday of targeting homes in overnight airstrikes in Kabul and the southern province of Kandahar, saying at least four civilians were killed as fighting between the neighbors entered its third week.

Pakistani planes also hit fuel depots belonging to private airline Com Air near Kandahar airport, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in X. “This company supplies fuel to civil airlines and United Nations flights,” he said.

Pakistan’s military and government did not immediately respond.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been targeting each other’s military installations since late February, with Kabul saying it hit Pakistani posts in response to Pakistani attacks along the border. Pakistan’s military has said its operations target the Pakistani Taliban and their support networks across the border, which Afghanistan has not formally recognized.

Both sides have claimed heavy losses in their deadly fighting over the years, with Islamabad describing the confrontation as “open war” with Afghanistan.

In his posts on X, Mujahid claimed that Pakistani strikes hit many civilian sites and uninhabited areas in Afghanistan’s Paktia and Paktika provinces and other areas. The attacks “will not go unanswered,” he said.

At least four civilians, including children, were killed and 15 injured in the city, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

The total number of casualties around Afghanistan is unclear.

The latest Pakistani attacks came a day after China’s special envoy Yu Xiaoyong arrived in Islamabad and met with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Sadiq after a visit to Kabul where he met with Afghan government officials. Sadiq, who is Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan, wrote in X earlier that he and Yuu “discussed the threats posed to Pakistan and China by terrorist groups such as TTP and ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) respectively” and agreed on the need for collective efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability.

Repeated calls from the international community for restraint have had little effect. Pakistan has previously said its attacks across the border and inside Afghanistan have only targeted the Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. Islamabad often accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring the group, a charge Kabul denies.

Since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in 2021, the TTP has intensified attacks within Pakistan and across the border. Islamabad has said its military operations will continue until Kabul takes verifiable steps to curb the TTP and other militants operating from its territory.

The current clashes culminated in a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey in October, when the two neighbors came close to war again. A deal signed in Qatar was followed by six days of talks in Istanbul that produced an agreement to extend the ceasefire and hold a third round of talks in November.

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Ahmed reports from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riyaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed to this story.