Fighting erupted on the Afghan-Pakistani border on Wednesday with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers saying 12 people were killed in a renewed onslaught by the Pakistani military.
Newsweek has contacted the Pakistani military via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest and most isolated countries and the conflict with Pakistan will divert scarce resources. Fighting between the neighbors also risks fanning broader rivalries as outside powers including India, China, Russia and the United States, maneuver to promote their interests in the region.
President Donald Trump, commenting on the fighting on Sunday, said he might try to intervene to help bring peace. On September 18, Trump said the U.S. wanted to take back control of Afghanistan’s Bagram air base, near Kabul, which he said was “an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.”
What To Know
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X, formerly Twitter, that Pakistani forces had attacked Afghanistan’s border in Kandahar province, at what is normally the second-busiest trade crossing between the countries.
“Unfortunately, this morning, Pakistani forces once again launched attacks with light and heavy weapons on Afghanistan in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar, as a result of which more than 12 civilians were martyred and more than 100 were injured,” he said. “After that, Afghan forces were forced to take retaliatory action.”
A Pakistani military spokesman was not immediately available for comment but Reuters cited Pakistani provincial officials as accusing the Taliban of attacking Pakistani territory and wounding four civilians.
Both sides have traded blame for clashes in recent days and reported killing scores of enemy soldiers during the recent clashes at different points on their 1,600-mile border.
At the heart of their dispute is a Pakistani accusation that Islamist militants battling to topple the Pakistani state get support from Afghanistan and launch attacks into Pakistan from Afghan soil.
The Taliban deny that but in a major escalation on October 9, Pakistan launched an air strike on the Afghan capital, which Reuters reported was aimed at a leader of the militants, known as the Pakistani Taliban.
Neither side has confirmed details of the air strike.
Pakistan nurtured the Taliban when the group emerged from the blood-letting of Afghanistan’s civil war in the early 1990s to take over most of the country by 1996.
What People Are Saying
Trump told reporters on Sunday: “I hear there’s a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Trump said Sunday, as he flew to the Middle East. “I’ll have to wait till I get back. You know, I’m doing another one, because I’m good at solving wars.”
Pakistani army spokesman Ahmad Sharif reportedly told a briefing on Friday: “Afghanistan is being used as a base of operations against Pakistan, and there is proof and evidence of that. The necessary measures that should be taken to protect the lives and property of the people of Pakistan will be taken and will continue to be taken.”
What Happens Next
The border is likely to remain volatile for the foreseeable future given that Pakistan says it is determined to take action against the militants it says are crossing from Afghanistan to attack its security forces.
