{"id":5137,"date":"2026-02-26T20:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/afghanistan-says-it-launches-attacks-against-pakistan\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:36:10","slug":"afghanistan-says-it-launches-attacks-against-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/afghanistan-says-it-launches-attacks-against-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan says it launches attacks against Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Afghan military source tells Al Jazeera 13 border outposts were captured as Pakistan denies that any posts were seized.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Published On 26 Feb 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>|<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Updated: 7 minutes ago<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban authorities say they have launched attacks against Pakistan\u2019s military positions along their border in response to the Pakistani air strikes last week, as Pakistan said its forces had retaliated.<\/p>\n<p>The media office of Afghanistan\u2019s military corps in the east said in a statement that \u201cheavy clashes\u201d began late on Thursday \u201cin response to the recent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/24\/afghanistan-bombing-whats-pakistans-strategy-as-india-taliban-ties-grow\">air strikes<\/a> carried out by Pakistani forces in Nangarhar and Paktia\u201d provinces.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/22\/pakistan-carries-out-strikes-in-afghanistan-after-islamabad-suicide-attack\">Afghanistan promises \u2018appropriate response\u2019 after deadly Pakistani strikes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/2\/22\/pakistan-kills-dozens-in-air-strikes-on-afghanistan\">Pakistan \u2018kills dozens\u2019 in air strikes on Afghanistan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/24\/fresh-afghan-pakistani-border-clashes-follow-deadly-strikes\">New Afghan, Pakistani border clashes follow deadly strikes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cIn response \u200cto repeated provocations and violations by Pakistani military circles, large-scale offensive operations have been launched \u2060against Pakistani military \u2060positions and installations along the Durand Line,\u201d Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah \u2060Mujahid wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n<p>Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months with land crossings along the 2,611km-long (1,622-mile-long) border known as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/12\/28\/analysis-why-have-pakistans-ties-with-the-afghan-taliban-turned-frigid\">Durand Line<\/a> largely shut since deadly fighting in October killed more than 70 people on both sides.<\/p>\n<p>An Afghan military source told Al Jazeera that 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed and that 13 outposts were captured in Thursday\u2019s attacks, which were carried out in retaliation for Pakistani strikes along the border on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan had said that it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/23\/pakistan-claims-at-least-70-fighters-killed-in-strikes-along-afghan-border\">killed at least 70 fighters,<\/a> with Afghanistan rejecting the claim, saying civilians had been killed, including women and children.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"pakistan-responds\">Pakistan responds<\/h2>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on X later on Thursday that Pakistani \u2060troops had delivered \u2060an \u201cimmediate and \u2060effective response\u201d to Taliban fire across \u2060several sectors \u2060in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaliban regime forces are being delivered punishment in Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors. Early reports confirm heavy casualties on Afghan side with multiple posts and equipment destroyed,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that no Pakistani outposts been \u201ccaptured or damaged\u201d and that Pakistani forces had \u201cinflicted heavy losses across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in response to unprovoked Taliban aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He did not comment on the Afghan claim that 10 soldiers were killed.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, a Pakistani security source told Al Jazeera that a number of Afghan soldiers fled from three locations targeted by Pakistani fire in retaliation for Afghan fire originating from those locations.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"rising-violence\">Rising violence<\/h2>\n<p>Security issues lie at the heart of recent border tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring armed groups led by the Pakistan Taliban, known by its acronym TTP, on its soil.<\/p>\n<p>The TTP emerged in 2007 in Pakistan\u2019s tribal districts and is distinct from the Taliban in Afghanistan but shares deep ideological, social and linguistic ties with the group.<\/p>\n<p>Pearl Pandya, South Asia Senior Analyst at the US-based Armed Conflict Location &#038; Event Data, an independent, impartial conflict monitor, told Al Jazeera that the \u201cporous border\u201d with Afghanistan provides fighters with a safe haven to retreat to in the face of military pressure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Afghan Taliban, however, appear unwilling to seriously crack down on the TTP, partly due to prior affinities between the two groups but also out of fear of TTP militants defecting to its main rival, the Islamic State Khorasan Province,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Pandya said that 2025 had been one of the most violent years in over a decade, with ACLED recording over 1,000 violent incidents involving the TTP across Pakistan. Trends for 2026 appeared to be \u201con a par\u201d or \u201cslightly higher\u201d than the same period last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the absence of a serious crackdown on the TTP by Afghanistan, further escalation seems inevitable,\u201d said Pandya.<\/p>\n<p>The Afghan Taliban denies Pakistan\u2019s charges that it is sheltering the group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Afghan military source tells Al Jazeera 13 border outposts were captured as Pakistan denies that any posts were seized. Published On 26 Feb 2026 | Updated: 7 minutes ago Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban authorities say they have launched attacks against Pakistan\u2019s military positions along their border in response to the Pakistani air strikes last week, as Pakistan &#8230; <a title=\"Afghanistan says it launches attacks against Pakistan\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/afghanistan-says-it-launches-attacks-against-pakistan\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Afghanistan says it launches attacks against Pakistan\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}