Afghanistan said Pakistani forces carried out cross‑border strikes into the eastern province of Kunar on Monday, hitting civilian areas and killing at least three people. Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, wrote on X that the attacks wounded an additional 14 civilians and destroyed two schools, two mosques, and a health center.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry dismissed the accusation, urging Fitrat to “reflect on his own regime’s track record.” The ministry said the Afghan claim followed cross‑border firing from Afghan territory in March and April that killed nine women and children in Bajaur, a district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Those attacks, the ministry said, “exposed the Afghan regime’s reckless and shameful actions.”
The ministry also cast doubt on the Afghan damage claims, saying that images shared alongside Fitrat’s statement showed intact roofs and localized breakage “inconsistent with artillery impact,” suggesting the destruction may have been staged.
The competing narratives are the latest exchange in a conflict that has killed hundreds of people since late February. At that time, Afghanistan launched a cross‑border attack in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghan territory. Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan, a militant group allied with the Afghan Taliban that Islamabad blames for deadly attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies the charge.
In early April, Afghan and Pakistani officials met for Chinese‑mediated peace talks in western China. Beijing announced that the two sides agreed not to escalate the conflict and to “explore a comprehensive solution.” While the intensity of cross‑border clashes has diminished since the talks, violence has not entirely ceased, as Monday’s incident underscores.