Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday accused Pakistan of launching deadly overnight strikes in three eastern provinces, but Pakistan’s military dismissed the claim and said no such strikes were carried out.
The Pakistani denial came hours after Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, said on X that Pakistan “bombed” the home of a civilian in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman. He also claimed additional strikes were carried out in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktika, injuring four people.
Mujahid described the attacks as “atrocities” and said the strikes were “a violation of Afghan territory.” Afghanistan “considers the use of its airspace and territory and defense of its people to be its legitimate right, and at the appropriate time, it will give the necessary response,” he said.
Tensions escalate
Afghanistan’s report of new strikes came more than a month after cross-border clashes erupted when the Afghan government claimed Pakistani drone strikes hit Kabul.
Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry denied the Afghan government’s claim Tuesday, saying Pakistan does not target and kill civilians. He added that strikes carried out in October targeted the hideouts of Pakistani Taliban who were behind the surge of violence in the country.
“We announce and acknowledge whenever we carry out such strikes,” he said during a news briefing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey between the two sides in October still held Tuesday despite the reported strikes. There was no immediate comment from Qatar and Turkey.
Iran has recently offered to play a role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tuesday on X that he met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, a day after arriving on a previously scheduled visit. Dar’s office was also expected to release a statement about the meeting.
In Khost, residents combed through the rubble of the destroyed home, retrieving belongings.
“You see the cruelty with your own eyes, that young children, a woman and nine children, were martyred,” said Muhammad Iqbal, who said the dead were his cousin’s family.
Local tribal leader Mer Adam Khan said the attack was carried out by a drone that was flying over the area at around midnight. “It is not known where it came from and by whom,” he said, adding that the home that was destroyed was that of a local man, whom he identified as Shariat Khan.
“He has not interfered with any government. He lives a poor life here,” the tribal leader said.
Recent attacks target Pakistan
The latest escalation follows a deadly attack a day earlier in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, where two suicide bombers and a gunman stormed the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary. Three officers were killed and 11 others were wounded in the Monday morning attack.
No group claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The army spokesperson, Chaudhry, said the three militants who carried out the attack were Afghan nationals who sneaked into the country from the Tirah border region in the northwest.
TTP is a separate group but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban and many of its leaders are believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. Kabul in 2022 brokered a brief ceasefire between the TTP and Pakistan. The militant group then ended the truce after accusing Pakistan of violating it.
Pakistan has intensified intelligence-based operations against militants in recent weeks. Since January, Pakistan has killed 1,873 militants in thousands of operations, Chaudhry said.
On Tuesday, the military said security forces killed 22 militants during a raid on what it described as a hideout of “Indian-backed” fighters in Bannu, a district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.
In a statement, the army referred to the killed insurgents as Khawarij, a term the government and the military use for militants they allege are supported by Afghanistan and India. Kabul and New Delhi deny providing any support to such groups.
The statement said Pakistan “will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”
Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to prevent TTP militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks. Kabul denies the accusation, but relations further deteriorated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the Oct. 9 drone strikes on its capital and threatened retaliation.
The clashes that followed killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before the sides agreed to the Oct. 19 ceasefire.
Peace talks failed to end the dispute
Two subsequent rounds of talks in Istanbul failed to resolve the dispute, when Pakistan said Afghanistan had refused to provide a written guarantee that TTP fighters would not operate from Afghan soil.
The Afghan government insists it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan.
The lingering tensions have stalled bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with all border crossings between the two neighbors remaining shut since last month. It has also affected movement of people, as residents from both sides have been unable to travel to meet with relatives and friends since early October.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story.
