Afghanistan strikes targets in Pakistan, raising cross-border tension

Afghanistan has launched air strikes on what it called hideouts used by armed groups and “hostile intelligence circles” inside Pakistan, Kabul has announced.

The strikes, reported on Friday by Afghanistan’s defence ministry, were launched the previous day. The incident is the latest threat to the fragile ceasefire between the neighbours.

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Hostilities have broken out several times over recent months, killing hundreds of people, and mediators led by China have so far failed to secure an agreement for a settled peace.

The hideouts, located in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, both of which share a border with Afghanistan, were targeted by the “air force” on Thursday night, Afghanistan’s defence ministry said in a social media post.

The ministry said that the “bases” it described as belonging to ISIL-Khorasan (ISIS-K) had been “allegedly used in cooperation with certain hostile intelligence circles to plan and organise attacks against Afghanistan,” presumably referring to Pakistani intelligence.

According to the statement, the targets were located in the Gulistan area of Qila Abdullah district and the Shakar Ab area of Chaghi district in Balochistan, as well as the Qambar Khel area of Orakzai district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ministry said one of the sites targeted in the operation was a facility allegedly frequented by senior ISIS-K leaders. It added that “important targets” had been hit, based on preliminary information.

ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for attacks in Afghanistan in recent years that have killed civilians.

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Pakistan has also regularly accused Kabul of harbouring armed groups that launch attacks across their shared border, and has carried out numerous air strikes it says are aimed at such forces. Afghanistan has refuted all accusations.

Kabul did not specify how the attack – the first major ‌offensive action claimed by Kabul in months – was carried out.

Afghanistan has no fighter jets but is known to possess at least six aircraft and 23 helicopters, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Taliban forces are also known to have drones that have been used in fighting with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Information Ministry has rejected Kabul’s report in a statement, according to an unverified report by Reuters news agency.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban took power for a second time. Fighting escalated sharply in late February after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for its air raids.

Islamabad continues to believe that Kabul is harbouring fighters who carry out deadly attacks in Pakistan, especially the TTP. The Afghan government says the issue is Pakistan’s internal problem.

A fragile ceasefire deal reached in March collapsed after both sides accused the other of violating it. Subsequent efforts to ease tensions, mediated by China, have yielded no results so far.

The United Nations reported in May that cross-border fighting had killed at least 372 Afghan civilians and injured 397 in the first three months of 2026.

Pakistan launched air strikes on Afghan provinces last week, which the Afghan Taliban said killed at least 13 people, including 11 children, and injured 14.

Islamabad ‌said the “calibrated strikes” killed 26 fighters and were a response to a recent spate of attacks in the country’s northwest.

“Afghanistan will no longer tolerate any threat to its security and stability. ‌It ‌will use all available means and capabilities to neutralise and eliminate any threat at its source,” the Afghan defence ministry said in its statement on Friday.