DOZENS KILLED AS PAKISTAN–AFGHANISTAN BORDER CLASHES ENTER SECOND WEEK
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in intensified border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as hostilities entered their second week on Wednesday, according to officials from both sides of the frontier.
The renewed violence follows a series of explosions in Afghanistan last week including two in Kabul which Islamabad blamed on militant elements harboured inside Afghanistan. In response, the Taliban government launched an offensive along parts of its southern border, prompting Pakistan to threaten a strong counterattack.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of sheltering fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a claim the Afghan Taliban denies.
In the latest confrontations, Pakistan’s military said Afghan Taliban fighters attacked two major border posts in the southwest and northwest of the country. It reported that around 20 Taliban fighters were killed during early morning assaults near Spin Boldak in southern Kandahar Province, and about 30 more in overnight clashes along the northwest frontier.
“Unfortunately, the attack was orchestrated through divided villages in the area, with no regard for the civil population,” the Pakistani military said in a statement.
The Taliban, however, claimed that at least 15 civilians were killed and more than 100 wounded in Spin Boldak, accusing Pakistani forces of firing mortars into civilian areas. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid alleged that several Pakistani soldiers were also killed and weapons seized during the clashes.
Pakistan’s military dismissed these claims as “outrageous and blatant lies.” It did not provide an official figure for its casualties in the latest violence but previously confirmed that 23 troops were killed during earlier skirmishes last week.
Local residents described the clashes as intense and chaotic.
“Houses were fired upon, including my cousin’s. His son and wife were killed, and four of his children were wounded,” said Sadiq, a resident of Spin Boldak.
Shops and businesses in the area were shuttered, with many residents fleeing the border towns. On the Pakistani side in Chaman, 51-year-old Raaz Muhammad described the situation as “total chaos.”
“Our children and women were terrified and began screaming… we had no idea what was happening,” he said.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, seven Pakistani frontier troops were killed when a checkpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was attacked. The armed group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the assault.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament last week that repeated efforts to persuade the Afghan Taliban to cut ties with the TTP had failed.
Islamabad accuses the TTP which shares ideological and operational links with the Taliban in Kabul of killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since 2021.
Last week’s explosions in Afghanistan occurred while the Taliban’s top diplomat was visiting India, Pakistan’s long-time rival. No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The clashes escalated over the weekend after Kabul launched operations in at least five border provinces, claiming it was retaliating against alleged Pakistani airstrikes. Islamabad responded with force the following day, leading to heavy casualties on both sides.
Tensions between the two neighbours have remained high since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021, with repeated cross-border skirmishes raising concerns of a wider regional security crisis.
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