Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions spike after shelling claims and Kabul denial

Tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border rose again after Pakistani officials said Taliban forces from Afghanistan shelled Pakistani border posts overnight, following what they described as a failed attempt by militants to cross into Pakistan. Kabul denied that its forces had carried out any attack.

The latest exchange comes days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts. The flare-up has raised fresh concerns over efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to mediate between Kabul and Islamabad.

Four local Pakistani officials said on Wednesday that militants tried to enter Pakistan from areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces. They alleged that the militants had support from Afghan Taliban forces. The officials referred to the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term used by Islamabad for the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of allowing militants to use Afghan territory to launch attacks across the border. Kabul has denied the charge. According to the four officials, Afghan Taliban forces fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops stopped the infiltration attempt. They said Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire, targeting Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive sites.

The officials also said Afghan Taliban forces later left several positions and suffered casualties. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The claims could not be independently verified. Afghanistan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied that Afghan Taliban forces had launched any attack.

The tensions come after several weeks of relative calm that followed months of cross-border hostilities. Earlier this month, Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants who were trying to cross into the country from Afghanistan.

In Monday's airstrikes, Pakistan's Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed. Afghan authorities, however, said at least three civilians were killed and four others were injured. The UN mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties, and Kabul formally protested the strikes.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar raised concern over what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's airstrikes on Monday followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border, in which six Pakistani security personnel were killed. Days earlier, a suicide bomber had hit a mosque inside a police compound in nearby Kohat. Eight gunmen then stormed the compound, leading to a 20-hour gunbattle in which at least 21 people, most of them police officers, were killed. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, have stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. The latest border exchange has added to the strain in ties between Kabul and Islamabad.