Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Pakistan has declared open war on Afghanistan’s Taliban government following renewed clashes along the shared border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The escalation came after Pakistan bombed Kabul and Kandahar on February 27, hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops. Pakistan claimed its forces have killed 133 Afghan Taliban fighters, while Kabul claimed 55 Pakistani troops have died in its offensive.
“Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open war between us and you,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif posted on X as the Pakistani military launched operation ‘Ghazab Lil Haq’ against Afghanistan. As the violence escalated, both militaries said they killed dozens of soldiers on the other side, making a Qatar-mediated ceasefire appear increasingly shaky.
At least three explosions were heard in Kabul, but there was no immediate information on the exact location of the strikes in the Afghan capital or on any potential casualties. Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistan also carried out airstrikes in Kandahar to the south and in the southeastern province of Paktia.
Hours before, Afghanistan said its military launched its attack across the border into Pakistan late on Thursday in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas last Sunday and claimed to have captured more than a dozen Pakistani army posts. The Afghan defence ministry reported eight of its soldiers had also been killed in the land offensive. An Afghan official said that multiple civilians were wounded near the Torkham border crossing, at a camp for people returning from Pakistan. “A mortar shell has hit the camp and unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious,” said Qureshi Badlun, the information chief in Nangarhar province.
