Pakistan and Afghanistan Trade Claims Over Deadly Border Clash in Balochistan
Pakistan says 13 Afghan Taliban personnel died in overnight border fighting in Balochistan; Afghanistan denies the claim and says it destroyed a Pakistani post.
Pakistan and Afghanistan offered sharply conflicting accounts of overnight fighting along their southwestern border, with Islamabad saying it repelled an attempted incursion and Kabul denying that its forces suffered any casualties.
Pakistan's Information Ministry said in a post on X that its troops turned back what it called an attempted Afghan aggression in the Gulistan sector of southwestern Balochistan province. It said at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and several others wounded during the fighting on Thursday night. The ministry also rejected Afghanistan's claim that its forces had destroyed a Pakistani post near Spin Boldak, the southern Afghan border town facing the Pakistani city of Chaman, and posted video it said showed Pakistani troops firing artillery at Afghan positions.
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry disputed that account. In its own post on X, it said none of its personnel were killed and that Afghan forces had destroyed a Pakistani post on Thursday, describing Pakistan's version of events as false.
Residents in Chaman said the exchange of fire lasted for hours on Thursday. An uneasy calm returned to the border on Friday, with no fresh fighting reported. Neither side's footage or casualty figures could be independently verified.
The clash is the latest in a series of escalations between the two neighbors. A day earlier, Pakistan said it carried out airstrikes on 10 sites inside Afghanistan that it described as storage and launch facilities for drones used in attacks against Pakistan on Wednesday. Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes hit the southern and eastern provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Khost, killing four civilians.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes followed the launch of eight drones from Afghan territory and the shelling of Pakistani border posts by Afghan forces. He said the actions came after an attempt by militants to infiltrate Pakistan that was thwarted by Pakistani troops.
Tensions had already risen earlier in the week when Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad described as militant hideouts. Pakistan said those strikes killed 28 militants, while Afghan authorities said three civilians died, a toll confirmed by the United Nations.
The renewed hostilities risk complicating mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing a lasting peace between the two countries. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing militants, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, to operate from Afghan soil and launch cross-border attacks. Kabul denies the accusation. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is separate from but allied with Afghanistan's Taliban and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.