Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes: At least 58 Pakistani soldiers died in the exchange of fire at Afghanistan-Pakistan border as trouble intensified on Saturday night between the forces of two countries, said Afghanistan. Afghan troops launched a ‘revenge operation’ days after Islamabad’s Kabul bombing, and responded with gun and artillery fire. While the firing began late on Saturday night, it continued on Sunday morning as well with retaliatory attacks inflicting damage to Pakistan.
Reports say Pakistani security officials have reported that a number of Afghan border posts were destroyed in the counter-attacks.
Pakistan has closed its two main border crossings with Afghanistan, at Torkham and Chaman. It also closed three other points after at least three minor crossings occurred at Kharlachi, Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan, local officials said, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s ministry of defence had previously said that their operation had finished at midnight local time. “There is no kind of threat in any part of Afghanistan’s territory,” the Taliban administration’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Sunday.
What happened in Kabul?
Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul and market in its east was rocked by a bomb blast on Thursday. Pakistan did not claim the responsibility but asked Afghanistan to “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.” TTP is a group that shares its ideology with the Taliban and has been accused of killing hundreds of soldiers in the past four years.
Taliban blamed Pakistan for the Kabul bombing and its foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who is in India for a six-day visit, warned Pak against challenging Afghan’s courage. He said what Pakistan has done is a serious violation of Afghanistan’s airspace. A day after the warning, Afghanistan troops targeted Pakistani border posts in a ‘revenge operation’.
Islamabad, notably, has long been accusing the Taliban administration of harbouring militants who attack Pakistan, a charge that Kabul has always denied.
Afghanistan claims 58 Pak soldiers killed
Afghan state-run media initially said that over a dozen Pakistani soldiers were killed, but later increased the number of 58. There was no immediate confirmation from Islamabad. The Taliban government’s Defense Ministry said early Sunday morning its forces had conducted “retaliatory and successful operations” along the border.
“If the opposing side again violates Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, our armed forces are fully prepared to defend the nation’s borders and will deliver a strong response,” the ministry added.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned Afghanistan for the Saturday night firing, and warned it would be given a “befitting reply like India”, a reference to the Operation Sindoor conflict during which Pakistan made false claims of inflicting damages to Indian defence forces.
Reacting to the attack, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern and urged both sides to prioritize “dialogue, diplomacy and restraint.”