A long-running conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has turned into what Pakistan declared Friday to be “open war,” with attacks reported in Kabul and along the neighbors’ shared border.
“Our patience has run out and now there is an open war between us,” Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a social-media post.
Pakistan has been pressing Taliban authorities in Kabul to halt what it says are attacks by Afghan forces and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban, a militant group based across the border.
Pakistan has responded “in full force” to recent attacks, striking Taliban border posts and hide-outs in Afghanistan and hitting targets in Kabul, according to Pakistan security forces.
A spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan said Pakistan had carried out airstrikes in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, a southeastern province that borders Pakistan.
Pakistan declared a high alert in major cities, including the capital, Islamabad, warning of possible suicide attacks in response to the strikes in Afghanistan.
Pakistan hasn’t formally declared war but is escalating its rhetoric to underline the depth of its frustration with the Taliban government, said Husain Haqqani, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former Pakistan ambassador to the U.S.
“This is definitely an escalation,” Haqqani said. “There has been fighting between the two without anybody saying that it is war.”
After the Taliban takeover, Islamabad had assumed it would have influence in Afghanistan, but Kabul has instead worked to deepen ties with Pakistan’s rival India. Afghanistan last month appointed its first diplomatic envoy to India since the Taliban takeover, deepening frustrations in Islamabad.
Tensions have flared between the two countries in recent years as Islamabad accused Kabul of harboring Pakistani militants, blaming them for a surge in attacks within Pakistan since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021. Afghanistan has denied those allegations.
Pakistan said last week that it had launched airstrikes on what it described as militant camps within Afghanistan. The attacks were the most extensive since October, when the two countries engaged in weeks of deadly border clashes that erupted after Pakistan launched airstrikes in Kabul. Pakistan security officials said those airstrikes were targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
Dozens of civilians and soldiers have been killed in a series of cross-border attacks launched by both sides. The two countries agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but further peace talks ended without a long-term deal.
Haqqani said he didn’t see a full-blown war erupting between the two countries. Instead, he said, Pakistan would likely engage in more border fighting and airstrikes, while Kabul could launch more militant attacks within Pakistan.
“I can visualize the Taliban leaders responding with even greater rhetoric and putting themselves into a more war-like posture,” he added.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned recent attacks in Pakistan and expressed condolences for the victims. The gesture of support followed a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier in the week.
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