Pakistan’s military struck targets along the Afghan border on Sunday, claiming it killed at least 70 militants in what officials described as retaliation for recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan denied the casualty figures and said the strikes hit civilian areas, including a religious school and homes, in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika. The strikes threatened a ceasefire brokered by Qatar last October and escalated tensions between the two countries.
Pakistan cited the strikes as self-defense against militants it says operate from Afghan territory, while Afghanistan’s government rejected the characterization as a violation of its sovereignty. The exchange underscores the fragile state of the border region and the failure of diplomatic efforts to resolve underlying tensions.
Disputed Casualty Figures
Pakistan’s deputy interior minister, Talal Chaudhry, said at least 70 militants were killed. In an interview with Geo News, he offered no evidence for the claim. State-run Pakistani media later reported the figure had risen to 80.
Afghanistan rejected the casualty figures. The Afghan Defense Ministry said the strikes hit “various civilian areas” in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika, including a religious madrassa and multiple homes, and called the operations a violation of Afghan airspace and sovereignty.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X that the attacks “killed and wounded dozens, including women and children,” and disputed Pakistan’s casualty count. Mawlawi Fazl Rahman Fayyaz, the provincial director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar, reported a lower toll: 18 people killed and several others wounded.
A local tribal elder in Nangarhar, Habib Ullah, told the Associated Press that those killed were civilians. “They were poor people who suffered greatly,” he said. “Those killed were neither (the) Taliban, nor military personnel, nor members of the former government. They lived simple village lives.”
Pakistan’s Stated Targets and Justification
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, and its affiliates. An affiliate of the Islamic State group was also targeted, he said.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari justified the strikes as rooted in the country’s “inherent right to defend its people against terrorism.” Zardari noted that Islamabad had “exercised restraint” by striking only border hideouts, but warned that those responsible for attacks inside Pakistan “will not remain beyond reach.”
The Preceding Attacks
The strikes followed a suicide bombing hours earlier in the border district of Bannu in Pakistan’s northwest, which killed two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. The military warned after that attack that it would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible would continue.
Earlier, another suicide attack backed by gunmen struck Bajaur district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Pakistani authorities said the Bajaur attacker was an Afghan national.
Pakistan’s Information Minister said the country had “conclusive evidence” that recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting on orders from “their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”
Diplomatic Response and Regional Context
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul to protest the strikes. The ministry said the protection of Afghanistan’s territory is the Islamic Emirate’s “Sharia responsibility” and warned that Pakistan would be held responsible for the consequences of future attacks.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but alleged that no substantive action had been taken. It called on the international community to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used against other countries.
The truce between Pakistan and Afghanistan came after deadly border clashes in October that killed dozens of soldiers, civilians, and suspected militants. Several rounds of talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations have remained strained.
Abdullah Khan, a security analyst in Islamabad, said the recent strikes indicate that mediation efforts by Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have failed. “These strikes are likely to further escalate the situation,” he said.
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