Pakistan has said it is in a state of “open war” with Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government after clashes between the two countries continued this weekend.
Violence erupted on Thursday evening when Afghan forces attacked Pakistan border positions in what they said was retaliation for Pakistani strikes earlier in the week.
Over the weekend, airstrikes hit Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and the southern city of Kandahar, home to the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The flare-up in hostilities erupted after months of mounting tension between the neighbouring countries. A ceasefire came into effect in October last year after weeks of fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.
However, tit-for-tat cross border attacks have persisted.
Both sides have been attacking each other’s military positions over the last 72 hours, with Pakistan claiming it has been targeting the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistan Taliban.
Islamabad has accused the Afghan government of harbouring the outlawed militant group and that it has allowed the TTP to train and launch attacks from within Afghanistan – an accusation the Afghan government denies.
According to Pakistan’s minister of information, at least 331 Afghan Taliban and allied fighters have been killed, while Afghanistan’s government spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said at least 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed.
It has not been possible for independent monitors to verify these figures.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, praised his country’s military, claiming his forces were able to “crush” their foes.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, declared on Friday: “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
China has called for dialogue between the warring nations, while the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Turkey have called for an end to hostilities in phone calls with Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, offered to “facilitate dialogue” between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He pressed the two to “resolve their differences through good neighbourliness and dialogue”.
However, it remains unclear whether Iran remains in a position to mediate between the two sides after it was hit by US and Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.
Afghan spokesperson Mujahid said that his country’s attacks on military targets were meant as “a message that our hands can reach their throats and that we will respond to every evil act of Pakistan”.
Photograph by Hedayat Shah/AP