Live Conflict Pakistan - Afghanistan Conflict(2026)

[Saithan]

Pakistan confirms strikes on Kabul and Kandaharpublished at 01:42 27-02-2026​

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Pakistan has confirmed strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar, according to a government official, in what they said was retaliation for earlier attacks.
It come hours after Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed after an Afghan Taliban operation along their shared border.
This is an unfolding situation - stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.

Afghan Taliban unlikely to fight a conventional war with Pakistanpublished at 05:00​

05:00​

Analysts have told BBC Urdu that it would be unlikely for the Taliban to fight a conventional war with Pakistan.

There's a significant disparity in military capability between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan's armed forces, which are nuclear-armed, have consistently been ranked in the world's top 15 in military strength.

The Afghan Taliban, on the other hand, lack the same military resources and face their own economic challenges.

The weapons owned by the Taliban military largely come from three sources: those left by the former Afghan army, those from foreign forces that have withdrawn, and new weapons they obtained from sources including the black market.

Experts say videos of past border clashes suggest the Taliban forces have mostly used light weapons against Pakistani forces.

However, the Taliban have extensive experience in guerrilla warfare, analysts say.

An Afghan security expert has told BBC Urdu that many of the Taliban's encounters with Pakistani forces involve guerrilla tactics like surprise attacks and roadside bombs.

How have we got here?published at 06:32​

06:32​

Yogita Limaye
South Asia & Afghanistan correspondent


Pakistan’s leaders have released strong statements on Friday morning with the prime minister Shehbaz Sharif saying his country has the ‘full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions’ and the defence minister Khwaja Asif saying Pakistan was in an ‘open war’ with Afghanistan.

The latest flare up began when the Taliban government declared it had launched a major offensive against Pakistani military posts near the border with Afghanistan on Thursday night. It said it was responding to Pakistani airstrikes earlier in February in which the UN says at least 13 civilians were killed.

Pakistan had said those strikes were targeted at the hideouts of militants who it blamed for carrying out suicide attacks in Pakistani cities.

Now Pakistan has launched a fresh series of airstrikes – this time it's targeted Kabul as well.

While the Taliban government has confirmed the attacks, there is no information so far about what has been hit and if there are any casualties.

Which areas in Afghanistan were struck by Pakistan?published at 03:35​

03:35​

Pakistan has most recently targeted the Afghan cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika close to their long mountainous border that spans 2,600 km (1,615 miles).

Pakistan says it destroyed dozens of Afghan Taliban postspublished at 03:26
03:26​

Pakistani strikes have so far destroyed 27 Afghan Taliban military posts and captured nine others, according to Mosharraf Zaidi, the spokesperson for Pakistan's prime minister.
They have also destroyed more than 80 tanks, artillery and armed personnel carriers, he said.
"Pakistan’s immediate and effective response to aggression continues," he wrote on X.
The Taliban defence ministry said it captured 19 Pakistani military posts and two bases on Thursday night. A total of 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, the ministry said.
As a reminder, it's hard to verify these figures. Throughout the recent hostilities, both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses on the other.

Pakistan strikes Afghanistan as PM lauds armed forces

Pakistan's defence minister declares "open war" against Taliban after Islamabad says two of its soldiers were killed.

www.bbc.com

 

[Saithan]

TBH border clash and attack on Kabul is quite a big leap of escalation IMO. But I am sure that there must have been something that was the cause of this.

I would imagine that keeping it to border skirmishes would be least problematic solution and easier to deescalate. But a direct attack on Capital city is much harder to deescalate.

However I think digging a trench 10-15m deep and 4-5m wide along an insane long border at some points could have made it easier to guard the border.

 

[Saithan]

Pakistan bombs Kabul in 'open war' on Afghanistan's Taliban gov't​

KABUL

A Pakistani army tank stands at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman on Feb. 27, 2026, following overnight cross-border fighting between the two countries.


Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan including the capital Kabul on Friday, with Islamabad's defense minister declaring the neighbours at "open war" following months of tit-for-tat clashes.


Kabul and Kandahar heard blasts and jets overhead until dawn.

The operation was Pakistan's most widespread bombardment of the Afghan capital and its first airstrikes on the southern power base of the Taliban authorities since they returned to power in 2021.

Near the key Torkham border crossing between the two countries, an AFP journalist heard shelling on Friday morning, and a camp accommodating Afghans returning from Pakistan was hit by the fighting overnight.

Pakistan's latest operation came after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in retaliation for earlier air strikes by Islamabad.

Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies.


Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has stepped up assaults in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

Pakistan's defense minister Khawaja Asif declared an "all-out confrontation" with the Taliban government, posting on X: "Now it is open war between us and you."

Delicate ceasefire broken


The overnight strikes mark a "significant and dangerous escalation from earlier clashes", South Asia expert Michael Kugelman said on X.

"Pakistan appears to have expanded its targeting beyond TTP to the Taliban regime itself," he said.

Several rounds of negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Türkiye, but the efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement.

After repeated breaches of the initial truce, Saudi Arabia intervened this month, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.

Iran, which shares an eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Friday offered to help "facilitate dialogue", while Saudi's foreign minister spoke with his Pakistani counterpart and China said it was "working with" both countries while calling for calm.

Both the Afghan and Pakistani militaries said they killed dozens of soldiers in recent border violence, which followed multiple strikes by Islamabad on Afghanistan and clashes along the frontier in recent months.


Streets in Kabul were quiet after daybreak, in keeping with a Friday during Ramadan in the Muslim-majority nation.

The Taliban government confirmed the Pakistan air strikes, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying there were no casualties.

Hours earlier, Mujahid announced "large-scale offensive operations" at the border "in response to repeated violations by the Pakistani military".

The Afghan defense ministry reported eight of its soldiers had been killed in the land offensive.

At the camp for returnees near Torkham, multiple civilians were wounded in a Pakistan strike, an Afghan official reported.

"A mortar shell has hit the camp and unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded," said Qureshi Badlun, the information chief in Nangarhar province.

Months of border violence

Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, told AFP that several Pakistani soldiers had been "caught alive", a claim denied by the prime minister's office in Islamabad.

The military operation follows recent Pakistan strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, which the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians.

Both sides also reported cross-border fire on Tuesday, but without casualties.

Besides military operations, there has been a series of deadly suicide blasts in Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months.

They included an attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 40 people and was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The militant group's regional chapter, Islamic State-Khorasan, also claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a restaurant in Kabul last month.

Friday's air strikes almost immediately sparked misinformation online, with a video of a large explosion racking up more than one million views within hours.

Fact-checkers found the footage — shared in English, Indonesian, Greek, Turkish and Arabic-language social media posts — was taken during the start of the Iraq War in 2003.

source: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/p...-open-war-on-afghanistans-taliban-govt-219367

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Ever since US withdrawal and Taliban conquering Afghanistan without much effort Pakistan should have known what would have happened and done more than just sending Afghans back across the border. I wonder how many was sent back across the border anyway.

But like I pointed out, digging a trech and reducing possible crossings could have made things easier.

But let's see how this is going to play out.

 

[Saithan]

'It's a serious escalation, but it's not new'published at 11:13
11:13​

We're bringing you more analysis from experts who have spoken to BBC's Newsday.

Today's air strikes are a "serious escalation, but it's not new", says journalist Kathy Ganon, former news director of the Associated Press for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ganon tells our anchor Steve Lai that the tit-for-tat violence is "really problematic" for the region and what comes next is hard to predict.

Consider two things - shifting political alliances and militant groups in the region.

Ganon says Afghanistan has been drawn closer to India, Pakistan's historic rival.

Militant groups in the region are being used by countries to attack other countries, she adds.

"It's hard to understand where do we go from here and what's the next step."

"It's a really difficult siuation and as it escalates, it's difficult to know where does it go from here, who else gets involved and what does that involvement look like."

Pakistan strikes Afghanistan as PM lauds armed forces

Pakistan's defence minister declares "open war" against Taliban after Islamabad says two of its soldiers were killed.

www.bbc.com