Pakistan launched airstrikes on Taliban facilities hours after Afghanistan carried out its own “retaliatory” attack
Multiple explosions shook the Afghan capital, Kabul, and several other regions early Friday morning as Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged military strikes across their volatile border, accusing each other of escalating the conflict.
Islamabad launched Operation Ghazab Lil Haq (“Wrath of Justice”) hours after Afghan forces conducted cross-border attacks against Pakistani military positions. Residents in the Afghan capital reported hearing at least three blasts, but authorities have not confirmed the precise locations of the explosions.
“The cowardly Pakistani military has carried out airstrikes in certain areas of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia; fortunately, there have been no reported casualties,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X.
Pakistani state broadcaster PTV News shared several videos of the strikes, saying the military targeted Taliban “important military installations.”
A Pakistani security source told local media that an ammunition depot, battalion positions, and a sector headquarters were destroyed.
Very Big Hit ⚠️⚠️⚠️PAF have very precisely hit the Taliban military base formally known as Camp Phoenix now used as Depot where they have stored all US military leftover including arms and ammunition, artillery, transport vehicles, and backbone for Kabul, this is very major… pic.twitter.com/azwDbEY72c
— Ciphar 1337 (@Callsign_Ciphar) February 26, 2026
Islamabad said the strikes came after Afghan Taliban forces opened fire on its border positions late Thursday, killing two Pakistani soldiers and wounding three others. Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said Pakistani forces killed dozens of Afghan fighters and destroyed multiple military posts and armored vehicles in “retaliatory” operations.
Afghan authorities, however, said their military offensive on Thursday was itself a response to earlier Pakistani air raids conducted last week. Afghanistan’s military claimed it captured more than a dozen Pakistani army posts and inflicted heavy casualties in “large-scale offensive operations” across several border provinces.
Pakistani officials described the Afghan attack as unprovoked and denied losing any positions.
Heavy exchanges of fire were reported across multiple frontier sectors, including near the Torkham crossing, prompting evacuations of civilians and refugee camps on both sides of the border. Local Pakistani authorities also reported mortar shells landing in residential areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least one civilian and injuring several others.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have deteriorated sharply amid mutual accusations over militant activity. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of harboring fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a charge denied by the Taliban.
The new spiral of violence poses a major challenge to the ceasefire agreed between Kabul and Islamabad in October 2025 after several days of deadly border clashes that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. While the truce has largely held, follow-up talks failed to produce a formal agreement, leaving relations strained.
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