Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.
Pakistan’s declaration of an “open war” with Afghanistan must be understood in the context of months of escalating violence, regional analysts have said, describing the latest developments as a significant shift in the nature of the conflict.
Pakistan’s overnight air strikes on Afghanistan’s major cities have deepened a volatile standoff between the neighbours, straining a fragile ceasefire and prompting Islamabad to call the confrontation an “open war.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue, offering Tehran’s assistance to facilitate understanding between its eastern neighbours.
More than 11 million Afghans have been displaced or have returned to the country between 2021 and 2025, as drought, floods and mass returns from neighbouring states deepen an already fragile humanitarian crisis, according to a new report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Taliban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has accused Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilians in recent airstrikes on Afghanistan, telling a senior United Nations official the attacks did not hit armed groups, as the UN confirmed more than a dozen members of one family were killed.
The Taliban in Kabul has rejected Russian claims that more than 23,000 militants from around 20 international terror groups are currently operating within Afghanistan.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said on Monday it had received “credible reports” that at least 13 civilians were killed and seven others injured in overnight Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from Afghan territory.
Afghan and Uzbek traders have signed 25 agreements worth more than $300 million at a business conference, as officials from both sides said trade ties are expanding rapidly and could grow further in the coming years.
Iranian officials say more than 300 undocumented Afghan migrants have been rescued after being stranded in cold and rain near the border district of Taybad, in the northeastern Razavi Khorasan province.
The United Nations Security Council has renewed the Monitoring Team's mandate for another year. The Team supports the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee, keeping in place restrictions that target individuals and entities linked to the Taliban.
Afghanistan’s Health Minister has urged urgent action to strengthen domestic polio diagnostics and expand healthcare for returnees and vulnerable communities, pressing international partners in Kabul for faster, fully funded support as the country faces mounting strain on its health system.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has accused Afghanistan’s authorities of fostering conditions “similar to or worse than pre-9/11”, as tensions between the two neighbours intensify amid a surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan.
Afghan officials and international partners met in Kabul on Wednesday (4 February) for the fourth meeting of the Doha Process Working Group on Counter-Narcotics, with officials citing a reduction in poppy cultivation to “nearly zero” as efforts to curb drug production and trafficking were reviewed.
Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health has launched the country’s first polio vaccination campaign of 2026, saying around 7.3 million children under the age of five are expected to receive oral drops during the round.
Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have pushed vulnerable Afghan families to breaking point, adding new pressure to a country already battered by poverty and food shortages.
Afghanistan is seeking Azerbaijan’s support to help secure its official participation in the upcoming United Nations COP31 global climate change conference, scheduled to be held in Türkiye, as Kabul looks to strengthen its engagement on climate diplomacy and technical cooperation.
Secret negotiations between U.S. officials and the Taliban over remaining American detainees have stalled, after the Taliban publicly tied any further releases to the fate of the last Afghan held at Guantánamo Bay, according to a report by The New York Times published on 26 January 2026.
The United Nations has renewed calls for the immediate lifting of restrictions on Afghan women’s access to education, work and public life, after a three-day visit to Kabul by its senior political affairs official.
A suicide bombing at a wedding in north-western Pakistan has killed seven people, police said, in the latest attack to hit the country’s restive border regions with Afghanistan.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 24th of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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