Taliban announce retaliatory attacks on Pakistan, claim seizure of outposts
The Taliban said Thursday evening that their forces had launched attacks on Pakistani military posts along the eastern border and claimed to have seized multiple outposts in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, marking a sharp escalation in already rising tensions between the two sides.
In statements circulated by Taliban officials, they said two Pakistani posts had been “captured” in the Machinaw area of Dor Baba district in Nangarhar, three in the Anargi area of Goshta district, also in Nangarhar, and two more in the Dukalam area of Nari district in neighboring Kunar province.
The claims could not be independently verified, and Pakistan’s military had not immediately commented on the assertions.
At the same time, Mustaghfar Gurbaz, a spokesman for the Taliban governor in Khost, said what he described as “retaliatory operations” had also begun along sections of the border in that province. He said clashes were underway in several areas, including Zazi Maidan district.
The announcement follows days of heightened friction along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Over the weekend, Pakistani warplanes carried out airstrikes in parts of eastern Afghanistan, including Nangarhar and Paktika provinces. Taliban officials have said the strikes hit civilian areas, while Pakistani authorities have maintained that they targeted militant hideouts linked to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and the Daesh’s Khorasan affiliate.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, at least 13 civilians were killed in the recent airstrikes in Nangarhar, though casualty figures have varied and remain contested.
In the days since, local sources have reported intermittent clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops in several border districts, including Torkham, Nazyan, Achin and Dand Patan. Casualty figures from those skirmishes have not been confirmed.
The latest Taliban claims of seizing Pakistani posts signal a further deterioration in relations between the two sides, who have repeatedly accused each other of allowing armed groups to operate from their territory. Pakistan has pressed the Taliban to curb the activities of the TTP, which has carried out a series of deadly attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban have denied that militants are using Afghanistan’s soil to stage cross-border assaults.