Afghanistan claims airstrikes in Pakistan as border tensions escalate

Afghanistan's Taliban government said it launched airstrikes into Pakistani territory, while Pakistan said its forces shot down four rudimentary drones over Balochistan. The competing claims marked the latest turn in a border crisis that has been widening for months and now carries the risk of slipping from retaliatory fire into something larger.

Afghanistan's defense ministry said its forces hit what it described as an ISIS center in Saranan, in Balochistan's Pishin district, and carried out operations in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistani military officials said the drones were spotted quickly and neutralized, while provincial authorities said a drone attack near a government school in Saranan injured two people. The exchange unfolded on Tuesday, adding fresh pressure to one of the region's most volatile frontiers.

The fighting came one day after Pakistani airstrikes along the border killed at least 28 civilians and wounded 49, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. Afghan authorities said the death toll was even higher. The broader Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict has already killed hundreds of people this year, turning what began as border clashes into a confrontation with cross-border strikes, drone activity and repeated civilian casualties.

The political rupture has deepened alongside the military one. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militants it says are planning attacks inside Pakistan, while the Afghan Taliban says militancy is Pakistan's internal problem. Earlier Chinese mediation, including a message from President Xi Jinping, briefly eased the worst fighting since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, but later peace talks ended without a breakthrough.

The escalation has been especially sharp since late February and March 2026, after Pakistani airstrikes and Afghan reprisals drove repeated attacks across the frontier. The Afghanistan Analysts Network said Pakistan carried out its first-ever airstrikes in Kabul in October 2025, and on March 16, 2026, Pakistan bombed Kabul, killing more than 140 civilians. Afghanistan does not appear to possess fighter jets, but International Institute for Strategic Studies data show it has at least six aircraft and 23 helicopters, and Taliban forces are also known to use drones in fighting with Pakistan. That mix of deniable strikes and improvised drone attacks makes the border easier to ignite and harder to contain.