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Dozens of fighters were killed in overnight border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in the most serious fighting between the neighbours since the Taliban came to power in Kabul.
The Pakistan military said 23 of its soldiers were killed in the clashes. The Taliban said nine on its side were killed.
Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani border posts late on Saturday. Pakistan said it had responded with gun and artillery fire.
So why are Afghanistan and Pakistan fighting?
Last week, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and on a marketplace in eastern Afghanistan, according to Pakistani security officials and the Taliban, setting off the retaliatory attacks two days later.
Pakistan has not officially acknowledged the airstrikes.
The two sides have repeatedly clashed in border regions since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, but airspace violations deep into Afghan territory would mark a significant escalation.
Pakistan has been demanding the Taliban take action against militants who have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operate from havens in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies Pakistani militants are present on its soil.
Militancy has increased in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since the withdrawal of United States-led troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government.
The vast majority of attacks are claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose campaign against Pakistan security forces has intensified this year, set to be the deadliest in more than a decade.
Violence in the border region has “plunged relations between the neighbours to an all-time low”, said Maleeha Lodhi, a former senior Pakistani diplomat.
“But there will have to be a return to diplomacy to find a resolution to the confrontation,” she told Agence France-Presse.
The TTP is a separate but closely linked group to the Afghan Taliban, which Pakistan says operates from Afghan soil with impunity.
A United Nations report this year said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.
More than 500 people, including 311 troops and 73 cops, have been killed in attacks between January and 15 September, a Pakistan military spokesperson said on Friday.
Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.
“The Pakistani government and army’s patience has run out.”
