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Pakistan Declares Open War, Launches Airstrikes on Taliban Cities in Afghanistan

Pakistan Declares Open War, Launches Airstrikes on Taliban Cities in Afghanistan
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Pakistan declared it was in “open war” with Afghanistan’s Taliban government after launching overnight air and ground strikes on Kabul and other cities, capping days of escalating cross‑border attacks that left dozens of fighters and civilians dead on both sides reuters +1. Islamabad claimed more than 130 Taliban fighters were killed, while Kabul said it had captured multiple Pakistani border posts and inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani forces reuters +1.

Fighting surged along the 2,600 km Durand Line from February 22, when Pakistan first hit what it said were militant camps inside eastern Afghanistan, to February 26–27, when Taliban forces mounted large-scale retaliatory assaults on Pakistani positions and Pakistan responded with its widest air campaign inside Afghanistan in years reuters +2. The clashes shattered a fragile ceasefire brokered in October 2025 and raised fears of a broader regional crisis involving two uneasy neighbours with long histories of proxy conflict and mistrust reuters.

How the Border Escalation Turned into “Open War”

Pakistani jets and artillery struck targets in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and other areas overnight February 26–27, with explosions and anti‑aircraft fire reported in the Afghan capital and near key Taliban security installations reuters +1. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan’s “cup of patience has overflowed,” telling domestic media the country was now in “open war” with the Taliban authorities after repeated cross‑border attacks he blamed on militants based in Afghanistan reuters +1.

Islamabad said the operations were aimed at Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied militants it accuses Kabul of sheltering, and claimed 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed, more than 200 wounded, and 27 posts destroyed reuters. Taliban officials rejected those claims, insisting their own “retaliatory operations” had killed 55 Pakistani soldiers and seized up to 19 Pakistani outposts after earlier Pakistani raids killed Afghan fighters and civilians in Nangarhar and other eastern provinces reuters +1. Neither side’s battlefield figures could be independently verified.

Strikes, Civilians and a Deepening Refugee Crisis

The latest fighting hit a population already strained by years of conflict and mass returns of refugees. The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said at least 13 civilians were killed in Pakistani airstrikes on February 22, part of a wider toll of 70 civilians killed and 478 injured across Afghanistan in the final three months of 2025 un +1. Afghan officials and local aid workers reported homes destroyed in border districts and new waves of internal displacement as residents fled artillery and air attacks dailysabah +1.

At the same time, Afghanistan has been absorbing an unprecedented influx of people pushed back from abroad. UNHCR said about 5.4 million Afghans have returned since late 2023, including 2.9 million in 2025 and nearly 150,000 so far this year, while its $216 million appeal for 2026 was only around 8% funded english. Pakistan’s heightened security measures have included detaining Afghans for deportation, a trend rights groups warned could accelerate if hostilities persist thehindu. UN human rights chief Volker Türk urged “urgent political dialogue, rather than escalating the use of force,” as UN Secretary‑General António Guterres called on both sides to protect civilians and respect international law un +1.

The Bigger Picture

The eruption of open hostilities underscored how quickly long‑simmering tensions over militancy, refugees and the unrecognized Taliban government can spill into interstate conflict between two heavily armed neighbours. With Pakistan’s military far stronger in conventional terms but Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban entrenched and ideologically rigid, analysts warned of a grinding, asymmetric confrontation unless outside powers help broker a durable security arrangement along the border independent. Regional states including China, Iran and Russia urged de‑escalation and offered to mediate, but with airstrikes still hitting major Afghan cities and forces trading fire across remote passes, the immediate risk is that a cycle of retaliation will deepen Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis and destabilize a region already on edge reuters +2.