Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of shelling Asadabad outskirts
Afghanistan’s government accused Pakistan’s military of shelling the outskirts of Asadabad, an eastern Afghan city, on Sunday, saying the attack killed one person and wounded more than a dozen civilians. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes hit rural areas and civilian homes in Kunar Province and posted preliminary casualty figures on X alongside photos of wounded children.
Fitrat said “mortars and other heavy weaponry” were used Sunday afternoon to strike the outskirts of the city. He said the preliminary figures indicated one person had been killed and 16 others were wounded, with the victims “mostly women and children,” according to the post.
Pakistan had not responded immediately to Afghanistan’s accusations, according to the report. The allegations come amid renewed fighting that Afghanistan and Pakistan have blamed on each other, and that has involved repeated cross-border clashes as well as strikes inside Afghanistan.
The fighting that erupted in late February marked what the report described as the most severe episode between the two neighbors in decades. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, which Pakistan says is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Afghanistan denies that allegation. The report said the conflict has included fighting in multiple locations and has seen Pakistan carry out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including strikes inside Kabul.
The latest dispute is occurring after a temporary truce that the two sides declared last week before Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The truce expired earlier this week, and fighting renewed on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan.
The renewed fighting follows earlier rounds of deadly exchanges that have unsettled international attention, including over civilian casualties. Earlier this month, Afghanistan said a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug treatment hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people; the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said the death toll was still under verification, and Pakistan disputed the claim, saying it struck an ammunition depot.
The report also said the February fighting began when Afghanistan launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, saying it was retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that Afghanistan said had killed only civilians. Islamabad said the strikes targeted militants instead.
Pakistan last month declared that it was in “open war” with Afghanistan, and the conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly because other militant organizations—including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group—still have a presence in the region and have tried to resurface. Peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to reach a long-term solution.