Pakistani forces suffer heavy casualties as Afghanistan launches border offensive in retaliation to airstrikes

A Taliban security personnel stands next to the debris of houses destroyed during an overnight Pakistani airstrike at the Balish village in Urgun district, Paktika Province, on February 22, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Afghanistan launched a major offensive against Pakistan along the Durand Line after Pakistani airstrikes. Heavy fighting erupted, with Afghan forces targeting military posts and capturing several. Both sides blame each other for escalating violence and civilian casualties.

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Afghanistan launched a large-scale military offensive against Pakistan on Thursday, sharply escalating tensions along the disputed Durand Line after what Kabul described as repeated Pakistani provocations and airstrikes that violated Afghan sovereignty.

Heavy fighting erupted across multiple sectors of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, particularly in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, as Afghan Taliban forces targeted Pakistani military checkpoints and installations in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes carried out on February 22.

Confirming the offensive, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan forces had launched coordinated attacks along the Durand Line.

“In response to repeated insurrections and insurrections by Pakistan’s military circles, extensive offensive operations were launched on Pakistani army centres and military facilities along the Durand Line,” Mujahid said in a post on X.

“In response to its rebellion and repeated acts of defiance by the special military clique of Pakistan, extensive offensive operations against the centres and military facilities of Pakistani forces along the Durand Line have commenced,” he added.

Security sources told CNN-News18 that Afghan Taliban units used artillery and infantry in coordinated strikes on Pakistani checkposts in the Maro Sar and Shahkot Sar areas near the Zakha Khel market. The attacks reportedly inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani forces, with at least nine troops believed to have been seriously wounded.

Fighting has since spread to multiple flashpoints, including Mohmand district, parts of Kurram, and Chitral’s Arandu sector. Sources also reported that residents in Kurram joined retaliatory action against Afghan Taliban positions following Pakistani strikes.

According to field reports, Afghan forces captured three Pakistani posts in Goshta in Nangarhar province and two more in Kunar. A heavy gunfight was also reported at the Shorko border crossing.

The spokesperson for the Khalid bin Walid 201st Corps said clashes involving Afghan border security forces were ongoing in eastern provinces in direct response to Pakistani airstrikes. Afghan units also launched retaliatory attacks on Pakistani militia posts across several locations in Kunar and Nangarhar.

The renewed violence follows a wave of Pakistani airstrikes deep inside eastern Afghanistan, actions that Kabul has condemned as unlawful and destabilising. Pakistan claims the strikes targeted militants, but Afghan officials say civilians and infrastructure were hit.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Defence denounced the attacks as a breach of international law and warned of further retaliation.

“Attacks on civilian targets and religious centres are clear evidence of the Pakistani army’s intelligence and security failures, and such repeated aggressions will never conceal their internal shortcomings,” the ministry said on X.

“Pakistan has violated Afghan airspace,” a source told CNN-News18, adding that the Taliban “has the right to retaliate.”

“We will strike back at the perfect time,” the source said.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has claimed it has “conclusive evidence” linking recent attacks to militants operating from Afghan territory and has reiterated calls for Kabul to act against them. Afghan officials reject the accusation, arguing that Islamabad’s repeated cross-border strikes and military actions are driving the current escalation rather than preventing it.