Pakistan carried out overnight strikes on Taliban government forces in Afghanistan’s major cities, targeting the capital Kabul and Kandahar, where Taliban leaders are based, in what officials described as an “open war.”
The attacks marked the first time Pakistan has directly targeted its former allies over allegations of harbouring militants, striking Taliban military facilities in the capital Kabul and the city of Kandahar rather than militant groups it says are backed by them, signalling a sharp rupture in ties between the two Islamic neighbours.
Security sources in Pakistan were quoted as saying that the strikes, involving air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia province, were carried out in response to Afghan attacks on Thursday.
The Taliban, which denies sponsoring militant attacks on Pakistan and in turn levels similar accusations against its neighbour, said it had launched what it described as retaliatory strikes on Pakistani military installations on Thursday, while also expressing readiness to negotiate.
Multiple ground clashes were reported along the border, and both sides said they had inflicted heavy losses on the other, issuing sharply differing figures that Reuters could not independently verify.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Friday, said, “Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is an open war between us and you (Afghanistan).”
The strikes threaten to unleash a protracted conflict along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) frontier.
Pakistan is nuclear-armed, and its military capabilities are vastly superior to Afghanistan. However, the Taliban are adept at guerrilla warfare, hardened by decades of fighting with US-led forces, before returning to power in 2021.
Countries that are mediating the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict include Russia, China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan that a solution would require commitment from the other side, the Afghan ministry said.
Iran, which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, also offered to help, although it is in the midst of high-stakes talks with Washington on resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute and averting new US strikes on Iran.
