Pakistan Launches Air Strikes in Afghanistan, Rekindling a Border Conflict

Sat Jun 13 2026 12:45:55 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Pakistan's military strikes Afghan border sites in response to alleged terrorism, killing 26 militants while Taliban claim widespread civilian casualties, raising fresh regional tensions.

Pakistani forces launched a series of air attacks on Afghanistan’s border towns, striking four targets and reportedly killing 26 militants a move that critics say also caused civilian casualties. The Pakistani government cites recent terrorist incidents on its soil as justification, while Afghan Taliban officials report that 13 people, mostly children, were killed and 16 others injured. The strikes untether the fragile cease‑fire that had held since October, igniting fears of a broader escalation in a region still scarred by decades of conflict.

Pakistan Launches Air Strikes in Afghanistan, Rekindling a Border Conflict

In a sudden escalation, Pakistani aircraft targeted four sites near the northern Afghan border, admitting the death of 26 militants while the Taliban claim that 13 civilians, most of them children, were killed and 16 others injured. The Pakistani State Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes were a response to "recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan" and had been aimed at "hideouts and safe havens" close to the frontier.

The attack comes a day after a surge in violence when Pakistani forces reported a strike near Peshawar that cost six officers. The Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the raids as a violation of Afghan sovereignty, noting that 11 children, one woman and an elderly man were among the dead.

The destabilisation follows a period of relative calm that began last October, when both governments agreed to a cease‑fire after weeks of deadly clashes. Yet in February, the front line has seen renewed hostilities, including an offensive by Afghan troops on Pakistani bases and a subsequent bombing of a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul that killed 269 people.

Analysts warn that the latest air strikes could trigger a broader security spiral, further polarising an already volatile region and threatening the fragile peace that has gradually emerged since the 2001 war and the 2021 Taliban takeover of Kabul.