Tension As Pakistan Bombs Afghan Cities, Kills 133 Taliban

There is growing tension in Afghanistan after Pakistan’s prime minister’s office on Friday said that ‘133 Afghan Taliban’ were killed amid renewed clashes on the border.

“Pakistani counter-strikes against targets in Afghanistan continue,” government spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said in a situation update.

As of 3:45 am (2245 GMT Thursday), “a total of 133 Afghan Taliban are confirmed killed, more than 200 wounded,” Zaidi said on the social media platform X.

“Many more casualties estimated in strikes in Kabul, Paktia, and Kandahar military targets.”

The spokesman also said that 27 Afghan Taliban posts have been destroyed and nine have been seized.

Armed clashes between Pakistani forces and the Afghan Taliban militia at the border erupted on Thursday, officials on both sides said, with conflicting claims of inflicting heavy military losses on each other.

The clashes broke out at multiple points along the border late in the night, days after Pakistani fighter jets carried out strikes to target Islamist militants blamed for deadly cross-border attacks from their hideouts in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government said the Afghan militia “miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire on multiple locations across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), which is being met with immediate and effective response by Pakistan’s security forces.”

In Kabul, the Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed their forces captured and destroyed several Pakistani outposts and killed numerous troops.

There was no way to independently verify the claims from either side.

Pakistan and Afghanistan exaggerated their military gains the last time their border forces clashed in October last year.

Pakistan accused Afghanistan of sheltering and facilitating the Islamist militants, who are allegedly behind a surge of cross-border attacks, but Kabul rejects the accusations.

The militancy has surged significantly in Pakistan since Afghanistan fell to the Afghan Taliban in 2021.

Meanwhile, China has called for dialogue following the escalation.

“As a neighbor and friend, China is deeply concerned about the escalation of the conflict and deeply saddened by the deaths and injuries it has caused,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said in Beijing on Friday.

He noted that the cross-border clashes had intensified.

Disputes should be resolved through dialogue, Mao said, calling for a ceasefire to be implemented as soon as possible.

China has always mediated between the two sides through its own channels and is prepared to play a “constructive role” to help de-escalate tensions, the spokesman said, adding that Beijing is monitoring the situation closely.

A long-simmering cross-border dispute further escalated overnight when Pakistan struck targets deep inside Afghanistan, including in Kabul.

Islamabad accuses the Taliban of sheltering Islamist terrorists conducting attacks in Pakistan, a charge that the Taliban have denied.

China shares a border with both sides and maintains ties with the Taliban regime in Kabul as well as Islamabad, mainly for economic cooperation.