By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The military unleashed a robust counteroffensive overnight against unprovoked attacks by Afghan troops along their shared frontier, capturing 19 border posts, obliterating several others and causing substantial casualties among Afghan soldiers and militants, state-run media reported on Sunday.
The intense exchanges, igniting late Saturday and persisting into Sunday, represented a significant spike in the fraught relations between the neighboring countries, long plagued by mutual claims of border encroachments and support for insurgent groups. The Afghan salvoes were designed to enable Khawarij militants, a label encompassing factions like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State offshoots, to slip across the line.
“So far, Pakistan has captured 19 Afghan posts on the Afghan border from where attacks were being launched on Pakistan,” state broadcaster PTV News said on X. “Afghan Taliban present at the posts have been killed and the rest have fled for their lives,” with fires breaking out at some locations.
Utilising artillery, tanks, light and heavy weaponry, alongside aerial support and drones, the military hammered terrorist sanctuaries and Afghan installations accused of shielding extremists. State-run Radio Pakistan, citing security sources, reported the total demolition of the Taliban’s Manojba camp battalion headquarters, Jandusar post, Turkmenzai camp and Kharchar Fort.
“The firing from Afghanistan side was aimed at getting the khawarij formations crossed into the border of Pakistan. However, Pakistani posts, which were alert and ready, responded swiftly and forcefully,” a local newspaper quoted unnamed officials. They claimed “dozens of Afghan soldiers and khwarij” perished, as Taliban elements abandoned multiple positions in disarray.
Clashes spanned various sectors: Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir and Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, plus Bahram Chah in Balochistan, with additional incursions thwarted in Pishin and Zhob districts. In Baramcha, Chagai district, adjacent to Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a senior official said Afghan forces unleashed “indiscriminate fire” with heavy arms, prompting a two-hour firefight that razed opposing posts and exacted casualties. Afghan pleas for a halt followed the dismantling of posts like Duran Mela and Turkmenzai, as Pakistani fire scattered militant groups.
Late-night updates from Radio Pakistan on X detailed precise strikes on “terrorist camps and hideouts of khawarij (terrorists), ISIS located near the Pak-Afghan border inside Afghanistan” following the initial barrage. Afghan troops withdrew from several zones, suffering extensive damage.
PTV News released videos depicting Afghan outposts ablaze, exchanges of fire and, in one clip from Kurram, Afghan soldiers yielding to Pakistani troops. Further accounts described military levelling the Shahidan post, Duran Mela, Durrani camps I and II, Ghaznali headquarters and a tank emplacement, while striking in Kharlachi, Taali, Leobund and Brabcha areas.
Officials estimated at least 50 Taliban fighters killed at Manojba alone, with dozens more, including foreign militants, slain overall, bodies left behind as survivors fled. In Kunar, Afghan personnel abandoned casualties after a hit on their position; in Chagai, militants and checkpoints were pulverised. Pakistani soldiers hoisted their flag atop a seized post in Angoor Adda and another in Zhob, where a Humvee was also destroyed. Officials stressed the actions pinpointed Daesh and Khawarij enclaves, including Afghan command hubs, without targeting civilians. “Terrorist elements are trying to fuel a war against Pakistan, and the ongoing operations are directed solely against anti-Pakistan militant networks inside Afghanistan,” they asserted, alleging Indian backing for the aggressors. The timing overlapped with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip to India, deemed “notable and concerning” by officials.
Amid the turmoil, the Torkham crossing shut down entirely. Afghan authorities framed their moves as reprisal for purported Pakistani airstrikes on Kabul days prior, unacknowledged by Islamabad, with Taliban border units in eastern provinces clashing at assorted sites. “In retaliation for the air strikes by Pakistani forces,” a Taliban statement read, noting engagements in Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika, Khost and Helmand. The Afghan Defence Ministry affirmed “retaliatory operations” concluding at midnight, vowing staunch defence against future breaches. Pakistan countered by demanding Kabul dismantle TTP havens, with officials noting Afghan posts’ failure to shield militants led to “heavy losses.”
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