By Farman Haris — SCN News
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan carried out airstrikes against three suspected militant sites inside eastern Afghanistan after a series of deadly attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying 28 militants and would-be suicide bombers were killed in the latest cross-border operation against groups Islamabad accuses the Taliban government of sheltering. Afghan authorities condemned the strikes as a violation of sovereignty, while the United Nations and Taliban officials reported at least three civilian deaths, opening another dangerous confrontation after roughly three months of relative calm along the frontier.
Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting described the strikes as "calibrated" and said they targeted camps, hideouts and safe havens belonging to what the government calls Fitna al-Khawarij and affiliated groups responsible for recent attacks in Pakistan. According to the ministry, three targets were destroyed, including a training centre for suicide bombers, and weapons and ammunition stored at the sites were also destroyed. The government said the operation was based on intelligence and that precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties.
Reuters reported that the strikes hit Afghanistan's Kunar and Paktika provinces, making clear that the targets described by Islamabad as being in the "border region with Afghanistan" were on Afghan territory. Taliban authorities said a man, a woman and a girl were killed in Kunar, while the United Nations also confirmed three civilian deaths. Those accounts directly challenge Pakistan's assertion that the operation caused no collateral damage, and the competing claims could not immediately be independently reconciled.
The air operation followed a separate intelligence-based ground offensive by Pakistani security forces around Kohat, Hangu and Thal. The information ministry said nine militants were killed in operations in Kohat and Hangu, bringing the government's stated militant death toll from the combined ground and air actions to 37. Several others were injured, according to the ministry, which linked the operations to its continuing counterterrorism campaign under Ghazab lil Haq and the broader Azm-e-Istehkam framework.
The immediate backdrop was a major assault on a police compound in Kohat on Friday, where a vehicle packed with explosives was driven into the facility as worshippers gathered for prayers at a mosque inside the complex. Gunmen then stormed the compound, triggering a prolonged battle with security forces. The death toll subsequently rose above the initial count reported on Friday, with AP reporting at least 21 people killed and dozens wounded; the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan publicly denied responsibility for that attack.
The Kohat assault was preceded by another deadly incident in neighbouring Hangu, where six Pakistani soldiers were killed. A further clash in Hangu on Sunday killed six members of the security forces and eight militants, Reuters reported. The succession of attacks has intensified pressure on Islamabad to act against armed networks operating in the northwestern border belt and against alleged sanctuaries across the frontier.
Pakistan says the threat cannot be separated from Afghanistan. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of allowing the TTP and allied Pakistani militant networks to operate from Afghan territory, regroup there and launch attacks across the approximately 2,600-km frontier. Kabul rejects that accusation and says Pakistan's militant violence is an internal security problem for Islamabad rather than the responsibility of Afghanistan.
The disagreement has become the central issue in one of South Asia's most volatile bilateral relationships. Pakistan initially hoped the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in 2021 would help contain the TTP, which has ideological and historical ties with the Afghan Taliban. Instead, Pakistan has experienced a sustained militant resurgence, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, while diplomatic efforts to persuade Kabul to take stronger action against Pakistani militants have repeatedly stalled.
Monday's strikes show that Islamabad is again prepared to use force across the border when it concludes that militant networks based in Afghanistan are responsible for attacks inside Pakistan. Similar Pakistani operations earlier this year produced direct clashes between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces, with both governments reporting heavy casualties and accusing the other of aggression. The latest operation therefore carries risks beyond the immediate militant targets because retaliation or renewed border fighting could rapidly widen the confrontation.
Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan's chargé d'affaires following the latest strikes and condemned the operation. Taliban authorities have disputed Islamabad's justification for previous cross-border attacks and insist Afghanistan does not permit its territory to be used against other countries. The Taliban's response to Monday's operation is particularly significant because Reuters reported that the strikes disrupted approximately three months of relative calm between the neighbours.
That relative calm had followed an exceptionally violent first half of 2026. Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq in February after border fighting and attacks it attributed to militants operating from Afghanistan, producing weeks of Pakistani strikes and Afghan Taliban retaliation. Another round of Pakistani attacks in late June was followed by Afghan drone launches into Pakistan, demonstrating how quickly counterterrorism operations can develop into direct state-to-state confrontation.
The latest strikes are therefore different from a routine security operation inside Pakistan. Islamabad is asserting a right to act against militant infrastructure beyond its frontier when it considers Kabul unable or unwilling to eliminate the threat, while the Taliban government regards such attacks as breaches of Afghan sovereignty. Those competing positions have repeatedly prevented the two sides from agreeing on a durable mechanism for addressing TTP activity.
Regional governments have attempted to contain the dispute through diplomacy. Qatar, Turkey and China have all been involved in efforts to reduce Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin recently met Pakistani officials and Afghan representatives as part of attempts to keep dialogue open. The return of Pakistani airstrikes to Afghan territory complicates those efforts by placing the immediate focus back on military retaliation rather than negotiations.
Civilian casualties could become particularly important to what happens next. Pakistan's information ministry said its targets were selected using credible intelligence and insisted maximum precautions ensured there was no collateral damage. But the UN and Afghan authorities reported three civilians killed, including a girl, while Afghan officials reported additional injuries and damage. Independent access to strike locations is limited, meaning the full casualty picture may take time to establish.
The discrepancy requires particular caution because Islamabad's figure of 28 people killed in the airstrikes describes them as militants, while Afghan authorities dispute the characterization of at least some of the dead. Neither the identities of all those killed nor Pakistan's claim that multiple intended suicide bombers were among them has been independently verified. What is established is that Pakistan struck three locations inside Afghanistan and that both governments sharply disagree over who was killed and the legality of the operation.
The strikes also demonstrate how the Kohat attack has changed the immediate security calculation for Islamabad. The assault targeted a heavily guarded police complex housing units involved in counterterrorism operations and combined a vehicle bombing with armed attackers, inflicting one of the most serious recent blows against security personnel and civilians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan's subsequent ground operations and cross-border strikes indicate that authorities are treating the episode as part of a wider militant network rather than an isolated attack.
Islamabad has said the campaign will continue. The information ministry described the safety of Pakistani citizens as its foremost priority and said counterterrorism operations would proceed at "full pace," while again accusing Afghanistan of remaining a hub for groups threatening Pakistan. Kabul rejects that description, leaving the two governments with fundamentally conflicting accounts of both the source of the violence and the measures justified in responding to it.
The immediate question is now whether Monday's strikes remain a limited Pakistani response to the recent attacks or trigger another cycle of cross-border retaliation. Afghanistan has condemned the operation and summoned Pakistan's senior diplomat, but the extent of any further response was not yet clear. After repeated military confrontations earlier this year, neither the latest Pakistani strikes nor Kabul's reaction establishes that a broader conflict will follow.
What is clear is that the Pakistan-Afghanistan security dispute has again moved beyond accusations over militant sanctuaries and into direct military action. Islamabad says three militant facilities inside Afghanistan were destroyed in response to attacks threatening Pakistani citizens; Kabul and the UN say civilians were among those killed. That unresolved divide — over militant sanctuaries, sovereignty and civilian harm — remains at the centre of a border crisis that months of military pressure and regional mediation have yet to settle.