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Pakistan strikes 10 sites in Afghanistan as tensions escalate
Attaullah Tarar, Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan, Beijing, China, 2 September 2025
Reuters
Pakistan says it carried out air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, targeting sites it said were used to store and launch drones, as tensions between the two neighbouring countries continued to escalate.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes followed the detection of drones launched from Afghan territory a day earlier. Pakistan said its air defence systems tracked and neutralised the drones before they reached their intended targets.
Tarar said the subsequent strikes were limited to identified military objectives linked to the attempted drone attacks. He warned that any further “provocative act” by Afghanistan’s Taliban government would draw a firm response from Islamabad.
Afghan officials, however, said the strikes killed four civilians. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the attacks hit areas in Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces and warned that Kabul would respond.
The Taliban also denied that its government had launched drones against Pakistan on Wednesday.
A man retrieves belongings from the debris of a house that was damaged in what the Taliban said was a Pakistani airstrike in Kunar province, Afghanistan, 21 September 2026.
The latest escalation follows a series of clashes and accusations along the countries’ border. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing Islamist militants to operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
The Taliban government rejects the accusation and says militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.
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Earlier this week, Pakistan said it carried out air strikes in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region that Islamabad said killed 28 militants. Afghan officials accused Pakistan of killing three civilians in those attacks.
The latest confrontation follows an attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last week that killed at least 24 people, reigniting fighting after nearly three months of relative calm.
Relations have also been strained by previous cross-border strikes. In March, more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani air strike on Kabul, according to the Taliban government, which said the attack hit a drug rehabilitation centre.
Islamabad denied the accusation and said it had targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure.
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