Illustrative image. (Pakistani Air Force)
Pakistan launched strikes on Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul and other cities, early on February 27, as its defense minister declared an “open war.”
The strikes came a few hours after Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said that Afghanistan was carrying out “large-scale offensive operations” against the Pakistani military along the Durand Line, which separates the two countries. The operations were a response to deadly Pakistani strikes that hit the country at the start of the week.
The Taliban claimed that its forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers, and captured two military bases and 19 military posts during the operations. Pakistan dismissed these claim.
Shortly after the start of the retaliatory strikes, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that “Afghan Taliban defence targets” had been struck in Kabul, the southeastern Paktia province and southern Kandahar.
From his side, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared what he described as an “open war” with the government of the Taliban.
“Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you,” Asif said on X.
The Pakistani military codenamed the latest wave of strikes “Operation Ghazab lil Haq,” which translates to “righteous fury”.
According to Pakistani media, the strikes hit a Taliban brigade headquarters and ammunition depot in Kandahar, as well as posts of the Afghan military in the Wali Khan sector, near the Shawal sector, in the Bajaur sector and in Angoor Adda. Taliban forces were also targeted in several districts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province: Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur.
Mosharraf Zaidi, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, later announced on X that the strikes killed 228 Taliban fighters and left more than 314 others wounded. He added that 74 Afghan military posts had been destroyed, and 18 had been captured.
More than 80 “tanks, artillery pieces, and armed personnel carriers have been destroyed”, the spokesman said in a previous X post.
The Taliban, however, said that only eight Taliban fighters were killed and 11 were wounded as a result of the Pakistani strikes and border clashes.
Later on February 27, the Pakistani Information Minister said that drone attacks were carried out in three Pakistani cities. Blaming the attack on the Taliban, Tarar said that several “small drones in Abbotabad, Swabi and Nowshera” were brought down.
Tensions had been building up between the two previous allies since the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2020. Last year witnessed several rounds of deadly clashes along the Afghan-Pakistani border, with Islamabad repeatedly accusing Kabul of backing the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, more known the Pakistani Taliban.
In addition, Pakistan has been growing frustrated with the growing relations between Afghanistan and its long-time rival, India.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey have both called for de-escalation, and are already in contact with both sides in an apparent effort to broker a ceasefire.
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the us ousted imran khan in 2022 with the help of selfish people of the paki’s army who are in power today. now us and israel have a proxy war against the talibans using cheap paki’s blood..
and what will happen?
will the number one damn gang now free imran khan or will the number two damn gang free the women of afghanistan?
sunnis among themselves.
this is worse than what we had in yugoslavia, when catholics, orthodox and muslims slaughtered each other.