Pakistan strikes Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak as cross-border tensions flare; dozens killed

Smoke billows from an Afghan site in Chaman on October 15.

Pakistan, on Wednesday, carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak city near the Chaman border crossing, striking multiple Taliban posts, further flaring up ongoing hostilities between the two neighbours.

At least three Afghan-Taliban posts were hit in the early morning operation. Drones and aerial bombardment are reported along the border.

According to local sources, four Pakistani security officials were killed and four others injured, while around ten civilians were rushed to hospitals in Pakistan’s Chaman city for treatment, reported CNN-News18.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials, cited in an AFP report, stated that 15 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in the latest round of cross-border hostilities.

Ali Mohammad Haqmal, spokesman for the local information department in Spin Boldak, said the victims died in mortar fire, while Abdul Jan Barak, an official at the district hospital, confirmed that more than 80 women and children had been injured.

The Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has accused Pakistani forces of “once again” launching attacks “with light and heavy weapons” in the district. He said in a statement that 12 civilians were killed and 100 others injured, though no casualties among security forces were mentioned. Mujahid claimed calm had since returned to the area after “Pakistani soldiers were killed and posts and weapons seized.”

Islamabad, however, did not immediately issue a statement.

However, according to security sources, the strikes targeted Afghan positions from Pakistan’s Kurram district, north of Spin Boldak.

The renewed clashes come after weeks of brewing tensions following explosions in Kabul last week that Islamabad blamed on Afghanistan-based militants. The Taliban government, retaliating to the attack, reportedly launched an offensive along parts of its southern border, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong retaliatory response.

Over the weekend, heavy fighting left dozens dead on both sides.

Afghan officials, on Sunday, during a press conference, stated that 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed in earlier clashes, while Pakistan’s military said it lost 23 troops but killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire.

In the meantime, businesses across the Spin Boldak region have shut down, and many residents have fled their homes amid the renewed violence.

As per the Afghan border police spokesperson Abidullah Uqab, all crossings with Pakistan remain closed to trade and civilian movement. Around 1,500 Afghan nationals, however, stranded at the southwestern Chaman border, were briefly allowed to return home earlier this week.

The closure has stranded hundreds of people and halted the movement of goods between the two countries, worsening humanitarian conditions in the border provinces.

Notably, tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have surged significantly since 2021, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group responsible for numerous attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Kabul, nevertheless, continues to deny the allegations. It insists that it does not allow its soil to be used against other nations.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, on October 9, informed the parliament that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to curb the TTP’s activities had failed.

It should be mentioned here that the TTP, which shares ideological ties with the Afghan Taliban, was trained in Afghanistan and has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on Pakistani soldiers in recent years.

Last week’s unclaimed explosions in Kabul occurred while the Taliban’s top diplomat was visiting India, Pakistan’s regional rival, further triggering diplomatic tensions.

Clashes flared up over this weekend when Taliban forces claimed to have launched operations in at least five Afghan provinces “in retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul.” Islamabad, soon after, vowed a “forceful response,” and both sides reported significant casualties.