Pakistan launched a series of airstrikes on major Afghan cities, including the capital Kabul, early Friday morning, prompting Islamabad’s Defence Minister to declare that the two neighbouring countries are now locked in an “open war.”
AFP journalists in Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar reported hearing multiple explosions and the roar of military jets overhead throughout the night, with the bombardment continuing until dawn.
The strikes targeted what Pakistani officials described as defence installations of the Afghan Taliban, hitting the capital as well as the southern region considered a key power base for the ruling authorities.
According to Pakistani officials, the operation was a direct response to an attack by Afghan forces on Pakistani border troops on Thursday night. That skirmish was itself believed to be retaliation for earlier air strikes conducted by Islamabad, marking a rapid and dangerous escalation in tit-for-tat violence between the two neighbours.
The rhetoric on both sides intensified rapidly following the bombardment. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar took to social media platform X to confirm the military action, stating that “Afghan Taliban defence targets were targeted in Kabul, Paktia (province) and Kandahar.”
His colleague, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, went a step further, declaring an “all-out confrontation” with the Taliban government and signalling that Pakistan now views the situation as a full-blown conflict rather than a series of border skirmishes.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been deteriorating for months, with land border crossings remaining largely shut since a deadly confrontation in October that claimed the lives of over 70 people on both sides.
