Fierce rivalry
On the early morning of June 10, 2026, Pakistani military aircraft launched a series of cross-border airstrikes, targeting civilian and residential areas in the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost, Kunar, and Paktika. According to the Taliban Government’s chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, the strikes killed at least 13 people – including 11 children, one woman, and an elderly man – while wounding another 14 women and children.
Pakistan acknowledged conducting the June 10 airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, maintaining that the operation targeted militant infrastructure along the border and resulted in the deaths of 26 members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Islamabad described the strikes as part of its broader counterterrorism campaign under the Azm-e-Istehkam (Resolve for Stability) strategy. In a post on X, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that the operation was launched in response to a series of recent attacks inside Pakistan. He characterized the operation as a set of “precise and calibrated strikes” against militant hideouts and safe havens located in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Rejecting reports of civilian casualties circulated by Afghan authorities, Tarar accused the Afghan Taliban of engaging in propaganda and asserted that the strikes were conducted with precision and accuracy against designated militant targets.
The airstrikes signal a renewed escalation in tensions between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban administration after several weeks of relative calm that followed intense cross-border hostilities in late February and early March 2026. Relations between the two sides have remained strained since the Kabul takeover by the Afghan Taliban in 2021, with Pakistan repeatedly accusing the Taliban regime of failing to curb the activities of TTP, alleging that its terrorists operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban, however, have consistently rejected these allegations, maintaining that they do not permit any individual or group to use Afghan soil to threaten the security of other countries.
The June 10-airstrike formed part of a continuing cycle of escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan that began with Pakistani strikes on February 22 across eastern and south-eastern Afghanistan. Those initial strikes reportedly caused the deaths of at least 18 civilians, including women and children, and left several others injured. On February 26, 2026, Afghan forces are said to have responded with cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions under Operation Radd-ul-Zulm (Repelling Oppression). The situation further deteriorated the same day when Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq (Righteous Fury), intensifying hostilities between the two neighbours.
According to a May 12, 2026, report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) at least 372 civilians were killed and 397 were injured in cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan during the first three months of 2026. UNAMA added that it recorded 95 incidents of civilian harm during the first quarter of the year, and that Pakistani armed forces were responsible for civilian casualties in 94 cases, while Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities were blamed in one incident. Pakistani airstrikes accounted for nearly two-thirds of the civilian casualties, while the remaining deaths and injuries were caused mainly by cross-border artillery and mortar fire. One of the deadliest incidents took place in Kabul on March 16, when Pakistani airstrikes targeted the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Hospital. The UNAMA report stated that at least 269 civilians were killed and more than 122 were injured in the attack.
On March 18, 2026, both Afghanistan’s Taliban Government and Pakistan agreed to a temporary pause in escalating cross-border violence to observe Eid al-Fitr from midnight of 18/19 March 2026 until midnight of 23/24 March 2026. The decision came ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations and followed diplomatic outreach and requests from several fraternal Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Türkiye. On March 26, the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) declared that the temporary pause in Operation Ghazab-Lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban had concluded and the operation would continue “until its objectives are achieved”.
Representatives from Afghanistan and Pakistan held informal peace talks in Urumqi city, China, between April 1 and April 7, in which both nations reaffirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. They agreed to avoid actions that could further escalate or complicate the ongoing situation.
While peace-talks were going on in China, sporadic clashes continued along the 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) border. Before June 10-airstikes, between April 1, when the negotiations commenced, and June 9, at least 10 incidents of cross-border firing were reported along the border. These incidents resulted in the deaths of three civilians and 58 terrorists, while 11 civilians and more than 80 terrorists, sustained injuries. In addition, 13 civilian deaths were caused by the June 10 airstrikes.
Pakistan made its position clear during a visit to the Command and Staff College in Quetta on May 19, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that Operation Ghazab lil-Haq would continue with full resolve against alleged terrorist proxies operating from Afghan territory. The remarks reflected Islamabad’s increasingly assertive security stance, indicating that any future terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil attributed to groups based in Afghanistan would prompt a military response. The statement also suggested that, in the absence of progress on cross-border militancy, tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to remain high, with the potential for an extended cycle of confrontation between the two neighbours.