Intense preventing broke out alongside the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Saturday night time, with each side exchanging heavy hearth at a number of areas throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The clashes mark a big escalation in cross-border tensions following disputed airstrikes in Kabul earlier this week.
In line with Pakistani safety officers, Taliban forces opened hearth on a number of Pakistani border posts late Saturday, prompting what they described as a “immediate and intense response” focusing on Afghan positions. Taliban authorities, in the meantime, claimed the assault was retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory.
Conflicting Accounts Of The Violence
Pakistani safety officers advised Daybreak that their forces “successfully focused a number of Afghan border posts,” claiming notable harm to a number of Afghan positions and militant formations. The firing occurred at key border areas together with Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, and Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baramcha in Balochistan.
“The counteroffensive successfully focused and destroyed a number of Afghan posts on the border. Dozens of Afghan troopers and Khwarij have been killed in retaliatory hearth,” The Specific Tribune reported, citing Pakistani safety sources. “Khwarij” is the Pakistani state’s designated time period for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Taliban border forces offered a distinct narrative, stating the clashes erupted “in retaliation for the air strikes by Pakistani forces.” The Afghan navy stated its border forces within the east have been “engaged in heavy clashes towards Pakistani forces’ posts in varied border areas.”
Taliban officers from the provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika, Khost, and Helmand, all situated alongside the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, confirmed the preventing. Some Taliban sources claimed to have seized two Pakistani border posts in Helmand province, which native authorities reportedly confirmed, although this might not be independently verified.
Pakistan begins ‘retaliatory operation’ towards Afghanistan — state media MASSIVE artillery hearth lights up night time — PTV Information https://t.co/r9amR2q0IH pic.twitter.com/IFJpznRye7 — RT (@RT_com) October 11, 2025
The Kabul Airstrikes Dispute
The present escalation follows stories of airstrikes in Kabul earlier this week. Whereas Islamabad has not confirmed conducting the strikes, it has referred to as on Kabul to “cease harbouring the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on its soil.”
Pakistani safety sources advised The Specific Tribune that Saturday’s Taliban firing was aimed toward “facilitating the unlawful entry of Khwarij” into Pakistani territory—an allegation that frames the violence inside Pakistan’s ongoing battle towards TTP militants it claims are sheltering in Afghanistan.
Late Thursday, a Taliban spokesperson stated an explosion was heard in Kabul however downplayed the incident, stating “nobody ought to fear, it’s all effectively and good” and that investigations have been underway with no harm reported.
Navy Escalation And Weaponry
Experiences point out that Pakistan deployed artillery, tanks, and each mild and heavy weaponry in its counterattacks alongside the border. The size of the engagement suggests this was not a minor skirmish however a big navy confrontation involving substantial firepower on each side.
Political Context And Warnings
The escalation comes as Afghanistan’s International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is on a week-long go to to India, the primary high-level go to from Kabul for the reason that Taliban seized energy in August 2021. The timing provides one other layer of complexity to an already unstable regional state of affairs.
On October 10, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif advised the Nationwide Meeting that “collateral harm” can’t be dominated out if Pakistani safety forces come underneath assault, stating that “sufficient is sufficient.”
Former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad expressed concern over the reported Pakistani strikes in Kabul on Friday, calling them a “large escalation” that poses harmful dangers. In a put up on X, Khalilzad advocated for dialogue between Islamabad and Kabul relatively than navy escalation, suggesting negotiations ought to deal with terrorist sanctuaries on each side of the Durand Line.
(With ANI Inputs)