‘Open war’: Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban claim heavy casualties | Military News

Pakistan bombed that of Afghanistan capital Kabul and other cities, claiming to have killed hundreds of Afghan Taliban fighters, as Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad would now wage “open war”, while Afghanistan also claimed it had inflicted significant losses.

In a major escalation of simmering tensions into full-blown conflict between the neighbours, Asif said on Friday that his country’s “patience is running out” with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. next attacks by Afghan forces earlier against Pakistani military positions along their shared border.

Asif framed the attack as one his country was forced to carry out, following “aggression” from Afghanistan.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said in Peshawar, Pakistan, his team was able to reach the town of Landi Kotal, near the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan, where they could observe ongoing clashes.

“We could see outgoing fire from Pakistan’s side and hear what appeared to be heavy artillery, which means the clashes are still ongoing,” he said.

The AFP news agency reported that Afghan troops were seen heading towards the border early Friday.

Significant casualty claims

Both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other, while suffering their own casualties.

Pakistan’s military says 228 Taliban fighters were killed and 314 injured in the attacks, which it says destroyed 74 Taliban posts and captured 18 others.

27 people are said to have been injured in attacks in Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s defense ministry claimed that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in their attacks that ended around midnight on Friday, including some whose bodies were taken to Afghanistan, and that “several others were captured alive”.

It said eight Afghan soldiers were killed and 11 wounded.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the various claims of casualties made by either side.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Pakistani military hit targets in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia province.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Kabul, Nasser Shadid, reported early Friday that a bomb attack targeted the Afghan capital at 01:50 local time (21:20 GMT, Thursday), followed by a second airstrike.

Afghan anti-aircraft guns opened fire after the first attack and continued firing after the second, according to Shadid.

An Afghan government source confirmed to Al Jazeera that an airstrike hit Kabul, and Pakistani warplanes also hit a military base in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information also said that it is also targeting the Afghan Taliban forces in several districts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province – Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur.

Afghanistan has “successfully” carried out drone strikes to hit military targets in Pakistan, its defense ministry and a government spokesman said Friday, as clashes continued.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistani Taliban fighters tried to use drones against targets in Pakistan, but they were shot down by anti-drone systems and there was “no loss of life”.

Previous attacks

Pakistan’s attacks came after Afghanistan said it carried out “large-scale offensive operations ⁠on Thursday against Pakistani military ⁠positions and installations on the border shared by the two countries.”

Along with the dozens of Pakistani soldiers he claimed to have killed in the attacks, he said they destroyed 19 Pakistani army posts and two bases. The ministry said the fighting ended around midnight, about four hours after it began on Thursday.

Pakistan claimed that it had attacks on Sunday killed at least 70 fighters, but Afghanistan rejected the claim, saying civilians had been killed.

Poor relationships

A statement from the office of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the entire country was united behind Pakistan’s armed forces.

“The people of Pakistan and its armed forces are fully prepared to protect the nation’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said. “There will be no leniency in defending our beloved homeland, and any aggression will be met with an appropriate response.”

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border, have plunged since fighting in October killed more than 70 people on both sides of the border.

The tension stems from Pakistani accusations that Kabul has allowed armed groups such as the Pakistani Taliban to use Afghanistan as a base and launch attacks on Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban share deep ideological ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but are a distinct movement.

“Pakistan has made every effort to keep the situation normal through direct means and through friendly countries,” Asif said. “It engaged in full-fledged diplomacy. But the Taliban became a proxy for India.”

“In the past, Pakistan’s role was positive. It housed five million Afghans for 50 years. Even today, millions of Afghans earn their living on our soil. Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you,” Asif said.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on X that Afghans “will defend their beloved homeland with complete unity in all circumstances and respond to aggression with courage” amid the attacks.

“Pakistan cannot free itself from the violence and bombings – those problems of its own making, but must change its own policies and choose the path of good neighborliness, respect and civilized relations with Afghanistan,” he said.

‘Serious Escalation’

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder reported in Islamabad that “From what we have seen so far, heavy casualties have been inflicted.”

“This is a serious escalation, probably the worst since the Taliban took over.”

Elizabeth Threlkeld, director of the South Asia program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, DC, said the latest clashes were no surprise after months of “flaring up” between the neighbors.

“It’s significant to the extent that it represents perhaps a shift in strategy,” Threlkeld said, noting the “more aggressive, kinetic attacks” from Pakistan.

“We’ve seen some terrorist attacks in Pakistan that have been quite significant,” she said. “I’m not surprised that the tension unraveled after those cumulative attacks and things unfortunately went in this direction again.”

Ask for self-control

The United Nations has request for urgent de-escalation. “(UN Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres urges that the parties fulfill their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and to ensure the protection of civilians,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General.

“The Secretary-General calls on the parties to continue to resolve any differences through diplomatic channels and commends the mediation efforts undertaken by various member states in recent months,” he added.

China’s foreign ministry said it was deeply concerned about the escalation and had mediated the conflict through its own channels, ministry spokesman Mao Ning told a news conference, adding that China was willing to play a constructive role in cooling the situation.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue and good neighborly principles, saying in a post on X that his country was ready to support the process.

Russia also called on Afghanistan and Pakistan to cease the attacks and resolve their differences diplomatically, state media reported, adding Moscow would consider providing mediation if requested.

Meanwhile, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, said earlier Thursday that the tit-for-tat attacks in recent days are a “terrible dynamic that must stop.”

“A better option is a diplomatic agreement between the (two) countries that neither will allow their territory to be used by individuals and groups to threaten the security of the other,” Khalilzad said.

“The implementation of the agreement must be monitored by a reliable (third) party, for example Turkey. This approach is a much wiser way than continuing with attacks and counter-attacks.”