Afghanistan’s Taliban government reported that Pakistani military forces conducted air strikes across multiple provinces, including Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost, resulting in four civilian deaths. Pakistan’s military confirmed it had struck 10 targets but characterized them as military objectives, stating the operations were “strictly limited to identified military objectives.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid described the attacks as “reckless, careless, and hostile” and warned of an “appropriate response,” while Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar defended the strikes as “deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate.”
Local residents in affected areas reported varying accounts of the damage. In Khost province, witnesses described strikes occurring around midnight that damaged homes, with some civilians claiming no military infrastructure existed in the areas targeted. An official in Paktia stated that jets had bombed a Taliban-controlled military corps facility. The strikes represent the second Pakistani military operation in Afghan territory within the past week and follow a deadly attack on a police facility in Pakistan that killed at least 31 people.
The escalation stems from an assault on a mosque at a police compound in northwestern Pakistan, which a group linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for. Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban government of harboring the TTP, a militant organization that has conducted a prolonged armed campaign against Pakistani state institutions. The Afghan Taliban government denies these allegations, characterizing militancy as Pakistan’s domestic challenge.
Cross-border tensions have intensified significantly, with UN data indicating that armed violence between Taliban government forces and Pakistani security forces caused at least 499 civilian casualties and 1,216 injuries between October 2025 and June 2026. A major incident in March resulted in over 269 deaths in a Pakistani air strike on Kabul, which the Afghan Taliban claimed struck a drug rehabilitation facility while Pakistan asserted it targeted military installations. Despite a ceasefire agreement reached in March, international mediation efforts have not achieved a permanent resolution to the conflict.
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