By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces repelled a cross-border attack by Afghan Taliban militia, near Chaman in Balochistan province early on Wednesday, killing between 15 and 20 of the assailants, according to the military’s public relations arm.
The clash, which unfolded along the volatile border with Afghanistan, marked the latest escalation in tensions between the two neighbors, with each side accusing the other of initiating the violence.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) described the incident as a “cowardly attack” by Afghan Taliban forces at four locations in the early hours of the day. “The attack was effectively repulsed by Pakistani forces,” the ISPR said in a statement. It added that as troops pushed back the assailants, “15 to 20 Afghan Taliban were killed and several other were injured.”
The military cautioned that the situation remained fluid. “The situation is still developing. There are reports of further buildup at staging points of Fitna-al-Khwarij and [the] Afghan Taliban,” the statement said, referring to a term often used by Pakistani officials to describe militant groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The exchange came amid a surge in border skirmishes, which have intensified since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The latest fighting erupted on Saturday night when Afghan forces struck multiple Pakistani military posts. Afghan officials claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in response to what they described as repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace. Pakistan’s military reported lower casualties, saying it had lost 23 soldiers while killing more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire along the border.
Tensions had already been high since last week, when Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in a market in eastern Afghanistan. Pakistan did not claim responsibility for those strikes. Islamabad has carried out strikes inside Afghanistan in the past, targeting what it calls militant hideouts. Pakistan has long accused the government in Kabul of sheltering members of the banned TTP, which Islamabad blames for deadly attacks within its borders. Kabul rejects the allegation, insisting it does not permit its territory to be used against other nations.
Earlier, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid took to the social media platform X to blame Pakistani forces for starting the confrontation. In a post written in Pashto, Mujahid alleged that Afghan forces were “forced to retaliate” following cross-border attacks by Pakistan in the Spin Boldak district of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province.
He claimed that Pakistani troops used “light and heavy weapons” in the assault, resulting in 13 people killed and more than 100 injured on the Afghan side. Along with his statement, Mujahid shared two videos on X. One depicted a tank moving along a road, while the other showed destroyed structures. He provided no further details about the footage, which could not be independently verified.
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