Pakistan is in 'open war' with Afghanistan after latest strikes, defense
minister says
[February 27, 2026]
By MUNIR AHMED and ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan traded attacks in a dramatic
escalation of tensions between the countries that Pakistan’s defense
minister said Friday means they are now in “open war.”
Tensions have been high between the neighbors for months, with border
clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected
militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of
harboring militant groups that then stage attacks across the border and
also of allying with its archrival India.
A Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the fighting, although the two sides
still occasionally trade fire. Several rounds of peace talks in Istanbul
in November failed to produce a formal agreement.
Late Thursday, Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan,
saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan
border areas Sunday.
Pakistan then carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan
provinces early Friday.
After the strikes Friday, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said in
an X post that Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the
withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021 and expected the Taliban, which seized
power in the country, to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and
regional stability.
Instead, he said that the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony
of India,” with which Pakistan has periodically engaged in wars, clashes
and skirmishes since gaining independence from British colonial rule in
1947. India has had improved ties with Afghanistan recently, offering to
enhance bilateral trade, to the annoyance of Islamabad.
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction from Afghan officials.
Afghan authorities in the eastern Nangarhar province said that fighting
was ongoing in the Torkham border area Friday morning. The province's
information directorate said that Pakistani mortar fire hit civilian
areas in Torkham, including a refugee camp, which had been evacuated
overnight. In response, Afghanistan was targeting Pakistani army posts
across the border, it said.
‘Exporting terrorism’
Asif, the Pakistani defense minister, accused Afghanistan of “exporting
terrorism.” Islamabad frequently levies the allegation at its western
neighbor as militant violence has surged in Pakistan, accusing
Afghanistan of supporting the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and outlawed
Baloch separatist groups.
Pakistan accuses the TTP — which is separate from but closely allied
with Afghanistan’s Taliban — of operating from inside Afghanistan. Both
the group and Kabul deny that charge.
Pakistan has also frequently accused neighboring India of backing the
outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and the Pakistani Taliban, allegations
New Delhi denies.
Asif's comments came hours after Pakistan carried out airstrikes in
Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as in Kandahar in the south and
Paktia province in the southeast, according to Pakistani officials and
Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Pakistan said
the strikes were in retaliation for the Afghan cross-border attacks.
Retaliatory strikes
Afghanistan, meanwhile, said that it launched its attack late Thursday
also in retaliation — for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border
areas Sunday.
The governments have issued sharply differing casualty claims. Each said
that it inflicted heavy losses of dozens of soldiers on the other, while
putting its own casualty figures in the single digits. The claims
couldn't be independently verified.
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Smoke rises after an explosion at a border post on the Afghan side
of the Ghulam Khan crossing with Pakistan in Khost province,
Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Saifullah Zahir)
Afghanistan also claimed it had captured an undisclosed number of
Pakistani soldiers. Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson for
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied any soldiers had
been captured.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan’s anti-drone
systems shot down several small drones over the northwestern cities
of Abbottabad, Swabi, and Nowshera on Friday. He said the drones
appeared to be part of a failed attack by the Pakistani Taliban, and
that there were no casualties. Tarar claimed the drone attacks “once
again exposed direct linkages between the Afghan Taliban regime and
terrorism in Pakistan.”
International calls for restraint
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate phone calls with
his Pakistani, Afghan, Qatari and Saudi counterparts on Friday to
discuss the conflict, a Turkish official said, without providing
details on the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity
in line with government policy.
In October, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia had facilitated talks
between the sides.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged both sides to protect
civilians as required under international law and “to continue to
seek to resolve any differences through diplomacy,” U.N.
spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Russia called for an immediate halt to the fighting and for a
diplomatic resolution to the conflict, Russian diplomat Zamir
Kabulov told news agency Ria Novosti. Kabulov, who is President
Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan, said that Moscow
would consider mediating between the two countries if asked,
according to Ria Novosti.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Pakistan and
Afghanistan to resolve their differences through dialogue during the
holy month of Ramadan. He also said that Tehran was ready to assist
in facilitating dialogue.
Refugees at the border
Pakistani authorities said that dozens of Afghan refugees in the
Torkham border area had been relocated to safer places.
Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in October 2023 to expel
migrants without documents, urging those in the country to leave of
their own accord to avoid arrest and forcibly expelling others. Iran
also began a crackdown on migrants at around the same time.
Since then, millions have crossed the border into Afghanistan,
including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and had built
lives and created businesses there.
Last year alone, 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan, the
U.N. refugee agency has said, with nearly 80,000 having returned so
far this year.
___
Abdul Qahar Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated
Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan,
Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, and
Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, also contributed to this story.
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