Pakistan Strikes Two Afghan Provinces for the Third Time in Two Weeks
Islamabad says it killed 22 militants in Helmand and Kunar. Kabul says the dead were civilians and calls the raids a crime.
Pakistan carried out airstrikes overnight on two Afghan provinces, and the two governments gave sharply different accounts of who was killed.
Pakistan's information ministry said its aircraft hit militant hideouts at two locations, in Helmand province in the south and Kunar province in the east, and that initial reports suggested 22 militants had been killed. "Maximum precautions were taken and it was ensured that no collateral damage occurs," the ministry said in a statement.
Afghan authorities said the strikes hit homes. They put the dead at nine to 10 civilians, most of them women and children, with about 10 more wounded. A Taliban spokesperson condemned the raids. "We condemn this act, and consider this an act of aggression and a crime that violates all universally accepted principles," he said. Neither side's figures could be independently verified.
It was the third time in two weeks that Pakistan has struck inside Afghanistan. Strikes last week on Kandahar and other provinces killed four civilians, according to the Taliban government. The pace of the raids has raised fears of a wider conflict between two neighbors that share a long and disputed border.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, which carries out attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban government in Kabul denies that it provides sanctuary to militant groups. The dispute has driven repeated flare-ups along the frontier this year, including earlier Pakistani airstrikes in February.
The United Nations has documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries from cross-border violence in 2026, a count that includes attacks and strikes on both sides of the frontier.
Helmand and Kunar are both places where Pakistan has said militants cross the border to plan and stage attacks. Kunar, in particular, is a mountainous province that runs along the frontier and has been a recurring target. The conflicting casualty numbers follow a familiar pattern in the conflict, in which each government's account is difficult for outsiders to check because of limited access to the sites.
The strikes also test a relationship that has been strained since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Pakistan had hoped the Taliban would rein in the TTP, and officials in Islamabad have said repeatedly that attacks on Pakistani soldiers and police have grown since then. The Taliban say Pakistan's security problems are an internal matter and that airstrikes on Afghan homes only deepen the anger.
No third-party mediators have announced new talks. Pakistan has not said whether more strikes are planned, and the Taliban have not said how they will respond beyond their condemnation.
