Pakistan kills Afghan Taliban fighters after Gulistan border clash
Pakistani security forces killed several Afghan Taliban fighters after they allegedly tried to enter Pakistan and opened fire along the border in Balochistan province, according to state-run media on Friday. The clash in the Gulistan sector came a day after Pakistan said it had carried out aerial and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan.
The latest exchange has added to tensions between the two countries, with Afghanistan's Taliban government saying Thursday's strikes killed four civilians and Pakistan saying the action was taken after drones entered its territory from Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, citing security sources, said Afghan Taliban fighters tried to enter Pakistani territory in Balochistan's Gulistan sector on Thursday and carry out an "act of aggression". Pakistani forces retaliated, killing several Afghan Taliban fighters, it said, adding that intermittent exchanges of fire continued after midnight.
The claims on casualties and the circumstances of the latest border clash could not be independently verified. There was also no immediate detailed statement from the Afghan Taliban on the Gulistan clash.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Thursday's strikes were carried out after drones entered Pakistan from Afghan territory on Wednesday. "In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defence, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones," he said.
Tarar said the strikes were "deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate" and "strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan". He described the alleged drone incursion as a "blatant violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and a "grave and unacceptable act of aggression".
Pakistan said on Wednesday that its forces had shot down eight drones, four near the Torkham border and four near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Afghanistan denied involvement in the drone attacks and strongly condemned the Pakistani strikes.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a social media post on Thursday that four Afghan civilians were killed in the strikes. He said Kabul would respond with a "firm stance and an appropriate response" and warned that such actions would have "dire consequences" for the Pakistani military.
The latest escalation follows Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan on September 21, which Islamabad said targeted camps and hideouts of militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan's Information Ministry said 28 militants, including several suicide bombers, were killed in those strikes, while Afghan authorities disputed the account, saying at least three civilians were killed and four others were wounded in villages in Afghan territory.
The Taliban government condemned that action and summoned Islamabad's charge d'affaires in protest. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of allowing the TTP and allied militant groups to use Afghan territory to plan and carry out attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation the Afghan Taliban has rejected. Pakistan says its latest military actions are part of its counter-terrorism campaign, "Ghazab lil Haq", launched in February.
In sum, the Gulistan border clash, Pakistan's strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan, and the competing claims over drones, militant targets and civilian casualties mark a fresh escalation in tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban government in Kabul.
