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Agence France-Presse

Explosions were heard in the Afghan capital Kabul Sunday, Agence France-Presse journalists said, with the Taliban government saying they were responding to aerial Pakistan attacks.
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s defence ministry said “air defence strikes were carried out against Pakistani aircraft in Kabul”.
Months of cross-border clashes have flared since Thursday when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, with Pakistani forces hitting back on the border and from the skies.
The renewed violence came after Afghan residents and officials said troops from both countries had been battling along the border, with the fighting coming alongside multiple strikes including the former US airbase at Bagram.
Earlier, residents in multiple areas bordering Pakistan spoke of overnight fighting, while the Afghan government said three people were killed overnight in drone strikes and shelling.
North of the capital Kabul, air strikes “hit Bagram airbase” according to a resident not named for security reasons.
A second resident said: “It was very strong, which shook the area. There was smoke and fire coming out north of the airport.” The resident described the dawn raid as “very terrifying”.
The provincial spokesman, Fazl ul Rahim Maskin Yar, said Pakistani jets “attempted to bomb” the base, but there were no casualties or damage.
Pakistan acknowledged bombing key cities on Friday, including Kabul and Kandahar, which is home to Afghanistan’s supreme leader, but has not commented on Sunday’s strikes.
The presence of security forces was boosted in central Kabul on Sunday evening, with increased checks on cars, an Agence France-Presse journalist said.
Before dawn, journalists in the capital had heard an explosion followed by successive gunfire, with Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying anti-aircraft fire was being shot at Pakistani planes.
Drones were also heard by an Agence France-Presse journalist in the border province of Khost, while in Jalalabad city – between Kabul and the border – a photographer saw a jet.
The Afghan government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said Pakistani fire had killed 36 civilians across multiple provinces since Thursday, which Islamabad has not commented on.

In Kunar’s provincial capital Asadabad, an 18-year-old said his brother had been killed a few months after getting married.
“When the fighting started, we told him to come with us and leave the area, but he said: ‘I will stay and look after the house,’” said Sajid, who only gave one name.
“He was martyred near the mosque while trying to leave,” he told AFP.
Multiple residents in Afghanistan’s Khost and Nangarhar provinces told AFP the two sides were engaged in sporadic clashes on Sunday afternoon.
At Torkham border crossing – a key gateway for Afghans returning from Pakistan – fighting was reported by the Nangarhar province information department.
Afghan officials said the border offensive on Thursday was a response to earlier air strikes that killed civilians, which Pakistan said targeted militants.
‘Stop the war’
On Saturday, Agence France-Presse spoke to Khost residents who had fled their homes near the frontier.
“We demand from the international community and the whole world to put pressure on Pakistan to stop the war,” said 46-year-old displaced resident Javed, who only gave one name.
Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar among those engaged in efforts to halt the fighting.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government rejects.

Many attacks have been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has stepped up assaults in Pakistan since 2021, the year the Taliban authorities returned to power in Kabul.
This week’s escalation marked the first time that Pakistan has focused its air strikes on Afghan government facilities, analysts noted, a stark change from previous operations that it said targeted militants.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said 46 locations across Afghanistan had been hit by air strikes since its operation began.
Pakistan has killed 415 Afghan soldiers, the minister said.
Islamabad said earlier that 12 of its soldiers had been killed.
Fitrat, Afghanistan’s deputy spokesman, said more than 80 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 27 military posts captured.
The Afghan government earlier put the death toll among its troops at 13.
Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
The violence of recent days is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.
Several rounds of negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan last year followed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey.


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Pakistan

Blasts in Kabul as Afghan government says responding to Pakistan attacks

Taliban security personnel stand guard near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Nangarhar province on Friday. Photo: AFP

People gather around the coffin of an army soldier, killed in the cross-border clashes of Pakistan and Afghan forces, during a funeral prayer in a village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday. Photo: AP

Pakistani security officials check people and vehicles at a checkpoint in Islamabad, Pakistan, following Pakistan’s strikes on Kabul and Kandahar on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghan Taliban after strikes on Kabul, Kandahar

Taliban security personnel stand guard near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises following what Pakistani and Taliban officials say are Pakistani strikes in Kabul in this still image taken from video released on Friday. Photo: Pakistani security forces/Reuters

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Chaman is deserted on Friday, after overnight cross-border fighting between the two countries. Photo: AFP

A Pakistani girl injured in overnight cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan receives treatment at a hospital in Bajaur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday. Photo: AFP

Once close allies, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban are now trading fire. What went wrong?

Taliban soldiers sit next to an anti-aircraft gun while on lookout for Pakistan’s fighter jets in Afghanistan’s Khost province on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Pakistani soldiers attend the funeral of two servicemen killed in an operation against suspected militants near the Afghan border in Waziristan on Friday. Photo: EPA

Pakistan claim of killing 80 militants ‘false’, Taliban security source says

Taliban security staff stand guard next to the debris of houses destroyed during an overnight Pakistani air strike at Balish village in Urgun district, Paktika Province, Afghanistan on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Afghan relatives and mourners carry the coffin of a victim, killed in an overnight Pakistani air strike, during a mass burial ceremony at Girdi Kas village in Bihsud district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Pakistan-Taliban showdown risks becoming a protracted war of attrition

A Taliban fighter holds his weapon beside a Humvee after exchanges of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces in Momand Dara district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

A Taliban security member keeps watch from atop an armoured Humvee near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Nangarhar province on Saturday. Photo: AFP

People gather around the coffin of a Pakistani soldier killed in cross-border clashes with Afghan forces during funeral prayers in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday. Photo: AP

Afghanistan’s Taliban open to talks with Pakistan as ‘open war’ continues

An Afghan security force member takes part in a military operation against Pakistan in Khost, Afghanistan, on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, attends a press conference in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday, following a surge in cross-border tensions with Pakistan. Photo: Reuters

A satellite image of Kabul on Friday after Pakistani strikes against Afghanistan. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/handout via Reuters

Pakistani security officials stationed at a checkpoint in Islamabad on Friday after Pakistan launched strikes on Kabul and Kandahar. Photo: EPA

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Asia

South Asia

Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce between Pakistan and the Taliban, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting


Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce between Pakistan and the Taliban, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting.


Blasts in Kabul as Afghan government says responding to Pakistan attacks

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce between Pakistan and the Taliban, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting

Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce between Pakistan and the Taliban, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting