Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Tensions Escalate as Taliban, Security Forces Clas

Heavy clashes have erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, specifically at the Durand Line, between Taliban fighters and Pakistani security forces, escalating tensions between the two countries.

The clashes come after Pakistan launched airstrikes on suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, killing dozens of militants. Afghanistan's Taliban government has condemned the strikes, claiming they targeted civilians and violated sovereignty .

Mosharraf Zaidi, the prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, said on Tuesday that the Afghan Taliban government began unprovoked firing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham and Tirah.

In an X social media post, he said, “Pakistan’s security forces reacted immediately and effectively, silencing the Taliban aggression.”

He added that any further provocation would be met with an “immediate and severe” response. He said that Pakistan would “continue to protect its citizens and safeguard its territorial integrity.”

This comes after Pakistan struck terrorist camps and hideouts in the Nangarhar and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan over the weekend, with an official claiming that “more than 80” terrorists had been killed in the air strikes.

The air strikes were the most extensive military action between the two countries since border clashes erupted in October of last year.

In a statement from the information ministry, issued in the early hours of Sunday, the air strikes were conducted in response to “a number of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including the suicide attack on an imambargah in Islamabad and other attacks in Bannu and Bajaur.”

Pakistan has irrefutable evidence that these acts of terrorism were committed by Khwarij in accordance with the instructions of their leadership and handlers based in Afghanistan,” it added.

The information ministry said that in a retaliatory move, Pakistan conducted “intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts of Pakistani Taliban [Fitna al Khw­arij] and its affiliates, and [Islamic State-Khorasan] in the border region of Pakistan-Afghan border with precision and accuracy”.

Fitna al Khwarij is the name given by the government to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Despite repeated efforts by Pak­istan to urge the Afghan Tali­ban Regime to take verifiable mea­sures to deny use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups and foreign proxies to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban Regime failed to undertake any substantive action against them,” the statement observed.