Pakistan launched a wave of airstrikes Thursday night against targets deep in Afghanistan, including in the capital of Kabul. “Now it is open war between us and you,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif wrote to the Taliban in a post on X Friday. The episode is the latest in a months-long conflict between the Pakistani government and the Taliban in Afghanistan over the Taliban’s support for the militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which has killed hundreds of Pakistani civilians in terrorist attacks.
Pakistan initially supported the Taliban in their guerilla war against the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, but the relationship soured after the Americans pulled out of the country and the Taliban took back power in 2021. From their bases in Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban (which is a separate organization from the Afghan Taliban) launched a series of devastating terrorist attacks into Pakistan. The Taliban has denied allegations that they are sheltering the terrorist organization.
The current conflict began when the Pakistani military conducted air strikes against what they claim were Pakistani Taliban bases in Afghanistan in October of 2025. The Afghan Taliban retaliated by attacking Pakistani military posts along the border, and the conflict had simmered in the intervening months until the latest round of airstrikes. Both sides claim to have killed hundreds of enemy soldiers, but casualty numbers haven’t been verified.
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