By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces responded to an unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban regime along the border in the Torkham and Tirah areas, the prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media said Tuesday, in the latest sign of rapidly deteriorating relations between the two neighbours.
Mosharraf Zaidi, in a post on the social media platform X, said Pakistan’s troops acted “immediately and effectively, silencing the Taliban aggression.” Any further provocation, he warned, would draw a response “immediately and severely,” as Pakistan would “continue to protect its citizens and guard its territorial integrity.”
The reported border incident came just days after Pakistani forces carried out airstrikes on seven terrorist camps and hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces over the weekend. An official said more than 80 terrorists were killed in the operation, which marked the most extensive military engagement between the countries since deadly border clashes last October.
The strikes were mounted in direct retaliation for a series of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. Those attacks included a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad and assaults in the districts of Bannu and Bajaur. “Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism were perpetrated by Khwarij at the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday, employing the Pakistani state’s term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The operation involved “intelligence-based selective targeting” of camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban — referred to officially as Fitna al Khwarij — and its affiliates, along with the Islamic State-Khorasan group, carried out “with precision and accuracy” in the border region. Despite “repeated efforts” to urge the Afghan Taliban regime to take verifiable measures against terrorist groups using Afghan soil, the ministry said, “the Afghan Taliban Regime failed to undertake any substantive action against them.”
Terrorism has resurged sharply in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly pressed the new rulers in Afghanistan to dismantle sanctuaries used by the TTP and other groups, but officials say those appeals have gone unheeded, souring what was once a close relationship.
Tensions spiked again after a vehicle-borne suicide attack on Feb. 16 against a joint security forces post in Bajaur district, right near the Afghan border. TTP militants tried to breach the Malangi check post, ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall after an exchange of fire. Eleven Pakistani soldiers were killed. A young girl died and seven other civilians, including women and children, were injured when the blast damaged a nearby residential building. Investigators identified the suicide bomber as Amad, also known as Qari Abdullah or Abu Zar, a member of the Afghan Taliban’s special forces from Balkh province. The TTP claimed responsibility for the assault.
Then, on Feb. 21, a lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were killed in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In its statements, Pakistan’s military has emphasised that the perpetrators are operating from Afghan territory — even during the holy month of Ramadan — and has pledged to show “no restraint” in pursuing them. “Operations would continue against the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act for justified retribution against khwarij, irrespective of their location,” the Inter-Services Public Relations directorate asserted.
On Feb. 19, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif had already signaled that Islamabad would not hesitate to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan if attacks from across the border continued, describing military options as remaining “viable.” The pattern of retaliation is not new. In November, Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s spokesman, claimed that Pakistan had “bombed” Khost province and carried out airstrikes in Kunar and Paktika. Pakistan neither confirmed nor denied the reports at the time. Those strikes were reported on the same day as a deadly suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters that left three personnel dead and 12 others injured. The November incidents came barely a month after one of the deadliest episodes of direct border fighting in years.
On the night of Oct. 11-12, 2025, according to the Pakistani military, Afghan Taliban forces and what Islamabad described as “India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij” launched an unprovoked attack along the frontier. The clashes left 23 Pakistani soldiers dead and more than 200 Taliban and affiliated fighters killed. The cycle of accusation, strike and counterstrike shows the fragile security situation along the rugged 1,600-mile border, where militant networks have long exploited the porous frontier and the mountainous terrain. For now, Pakistani officials appear determined to respond forcefully to what they see as direct threats to their territory, even as the risk of broader confrontation grows.
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