By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Asif Shahzad
KABUL/ISLAMABAD, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Pakistan bombed Taliban government targets in Afghanistan’s major cities overnight, officials from both countries said on Friday, with Pakistan’s defence minister calling the conflict “open war”.
Security sources in Pakistan said the strikes involved air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia as well as ground clashes in multiple sectors along the border between the Islamic nations.
The Taliban said it launched what it described as retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations.
Both sides reported heavy losses, issuing sharply differing figures that Reuters could not independently verify.
“Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan),” Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Friday.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been strained by a long-running dispute over Pakistan’s accusation that Afghanistan harbours militants carrying out attacks across the border. The Taliban have denied the charge and said Pakistan’s security is an internal problem.
The strikes on Taliban government installations are a major escalation, and threaten a protracted conflict along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) frontier.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Pakistani forces carried out air strikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia but did not give details.
Kandahar is the headquarters of the Taliban and the city where supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada is based.
Video shared by Pakistani security officials showed flashes of light in the night from firing along the border and the sound of heavy artillery. A video of strikes on Kabul, for which Reuters was able to verify the location, showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from two sites and a massive blaze in part of the capital.
Another video showed a building on fire, which the officials said was a Taliban headquarters in Paktia province.
“Pakistani counter-strikes against targets in Afghanistan continue,” a Pakistani government spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, said in a post on X, describing the action as a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks.”
Reuters witnesses in Kabul said many ambulance sirens could be heard following loud blasts and the sound of jets.
Zaidi said 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded, with 27 posts destroyed and nine captured.
Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 19 posts seized, while eight Taliban fighters were killed, 11 wounded and 13 civilians injured in Nangarhar province.
HIGH SECURITY
Pakistan’s military capabilities are vastly superior to Afghanistan. However, the Taliban are adept at guerrilla warfare, hardened by decades of fighting with U.S.-led forces, before returning to power in 2021.
Clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan in October killed dozens of soldiers until negotiations facilitated by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia brought an end to the hostilities.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministers spoke on Friday to discuss reducing tensions, Riyadh’s foreign office said without providing details on whether Riyadh was involved in brokering a ceasefire.
Russia, the only country to formally recognise the Taliban government, called for an end to hostilities and said it would consider mediating talks if asked by both parties, state media reported citing Moscow’s foreign ministry.
Pakistan has been on high security alert since it launched air strikes earlier this week that Islamabad said targeted camps of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, and Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan.
Kabul and the United Nations said the strikes killed 13 civilians and reiterated it does not allow militants to operate from its territory. The Taliban also warned there would be a strong response.
The government of Pakistan’s Punjab province said it was on high alert for militant attacks on Friday and had conducted a series of security operations, taking 90 Afghan nationals to holding centres for deportation.
A state-run media outlet from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Bakhtar News Agency, shared an image of what it said was a battalion of suicide attackers, and quoted an Afghan security source as saying the bombers were equipped with explosive vests and car bombs and were prepared to strike major targets.
Pakistani officials have said in recent days they feared an escalation of militant strikes in urban centres.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Sayed Hassib in Kabul, Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar and Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Additional reporting by Vinaya K and Fernando Robles; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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