Asia Defense | Security | South Asia

How Former Allies Pakistan and the Taliban Came to ‘Open War’

For the first time, Pakistan has directly targeted the Afghan Taliban in cross-border strikes.

On February 27, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (Righteous Fury) against its former ally, the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is the first attack in which Pakistan directly targeted the Afghan Taliban. Prior to this attack, Pakistan claimed to have only targeted the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the country. By targeting Kabul, Kandahar – where the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based – and Paktika, Pakistan marked the first direct attack at the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. 

Pakistan claimed that it launched the operation after the “unprovoked firing” from across the border by the Taliban. “Our patience has now run out,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said. “Now it is open war between us.” 

Asif said that after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021, Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan and expected the Taliban to focus on regional stability and the welfare of the people of Afghanistan. He alleged that instead of doing that, the Taliban began “exporting terrorism” after gathering militants from across the world. 

In October 2025, both Pakistan and Afghanistan also carried out attacks inside each other’s territory. The strikes stopped after a ceasefire was reached on October 19, with mediation by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye. However, the ceasefire proved to be short-lived, as successive rounds of mediation between Kabul and Islamabad could not solve the underlying issues. 

Pakistan struck Afghanistan on February 21, targeting terrorist “camps and hideouts” used by the militant groups, mainly the TTP. Islamabad claimed the strike was in response to the recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including suicide bombings a Shia mosque in Islamabad, in Bajaur and twice in Bannu – all conducted, Pakistan said, by terrorist groups using Afghan soil as their home base. 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a post on X:“Pakistan in a retributive response carried out intelligence based selective targeting of seven Terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban of FAK and its affiliates and ISKP at the border region of Pakistan Afghan border with precision and accuracy.” It added: “Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism were perpetrated by Khwarij on behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”

On the night of February 26, the Taliban struck Pakistan. The Taliban claimed they launched attacks against Pakistan’s military checkpoints along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in response to Pakistan’s strikes inside Afghanistan’s territory. The Afghan Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a post on X, which was later deleted, that they had launched strikes against Pakistani military positions in Helmund and Kandahar. The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense announced that during these retaliatory attacks along the Durand Line, it killed 110 Pakistani soldiers along with injuring 68 more. It also claimed that the Taliban forces had captured 27 posts that belonged to the Pakistani military. 

In response to the attacks – which Pakistan called “unprovoked firing” – Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Taliban. According to Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, as of March 1, 415 members of the Afghan Taliban have been killed, and over 580 have been injured. Tarar also claimed that182 checks post have been destroyed and 31 posts have been captured. 

These strikes are the first by Pakistan to directly target the Taliban in Afghanistan. Previously, Pakistan claimed to precisely target terror groups operating from Afghanistan. 

On April 16, 2022, for example, Pakistan launched its first air strikes over eastern Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power, asserting that it targeted the TTP militants. However, as per news reports, dozens of civilians were also killed, which provoked the Taliban to issue threats against its former ally. 

On March 18, 2024, Pakistan carried out strikes in districts of Khost and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan, in which eight individuals, including five members of the TTP, were killed. In July 2024, Asif told the BBC that “Pakistan will continue to launch attacks against Afghanistan as part of a new military operation aimed at countering terrorism.” He also claimed that “the aerial strikes were targeting groups which Pakistan accuses of targeting security forces and civilians.” 

Responding to this, the Taliban called the Pakistani defense minister’s statement “irresponsible” and warned Pakistan that there would be “consequences” for the cross-border attacks. 

On December 24, 2024, the Taliban authorities said that Pakistan carried out strikes in eastern Afghanistan in Paktika’s Barmal district in which several civilians, including women and children, were killed. Anonymous sources inside Pakistan confirmed that Pakistan had carried out strikes inside Afghanistan targeting terrorist facilities and claimed that during the action, Pakistan destroyed a training facility and eliminated several militant commanders belonging to the TTP. A few days later on December 28, the Taliban’s Defense Ministry claimed to have hit several points inside Pakistan in response. 

Throughout 2025, both sides exchanged fire across their borders. In August, Pakistan conducted drone strikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar, Nangarhar, and Khost provinces targeting TTP militants. However, the situation escalated significantly in October, marking the onset of true conflict between the two nations. Now Pakistan has officially declared “open war” on the Taliban.

The core of conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban is the TTP, which Pakistan alleges is being sheltered by the Taliban inside Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, denies the TTP has a presence inside Afghanistan. The Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the TTP controls large areas in Pakistan, thus, it does not need Afghan territory. “Security challenges inside Pakistan have no connection to Afghanistan,” Mujahid insisted, saying Pakistan “must resolve their own issues and refrain from further harming their ties with Afghanistan, as this would be detrimental to both countries and the entire region.” 

Both sides accuse each other of having foreign back in the growing conflict. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of serving as an Indian proxy. According to Asif, “India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul.” 

India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed this as “another attempt by Pakistan to externalize its internal failures.” However, India’s relations with the Taliban significantly improved in 2025 – to the extent that a Taliban diplomat took charge of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi in January 2026.

On the other hand, people in Afghanistan believe that Pakistan’s strikes are being instigated by the United States. A prominent Afghan journalist, commenting on the situation, said: “An uncomfortable pattern is also being discussed that when Pakistani leadership visits Washington. (PM Sharif’s visit for Trump’s board of peace last week) soon after, escalation follows in Afghanistan. Whether coincidence or strategy, Afghans are left asking difficult questions.” 

In these tit-for-tat strikes and the ensuing blame game, China’s interests in both countries are also at stake. China, until August last year, was taking both countries forward together and discussing the inclusion of Afghanistan into the Belt and Road Initiative via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. That plan could be delayed or even scrapped entirely due to the souring relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning shared Beijing’s concerns in a press conference. “As their neighbor and friend, China is deeply concerned over the escalation of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict and is saddened by the casualties,” Mao said. “China supports combating all forms of terrorism and calls on the two sides to remain calm, exercise restraint, properly resolve differences and disputes through dialogue and negotiation, and end the fighting as soon as possible, and avoid more sufferings.” 

Moreover, implicitly referring to China’s interests in both countries, she added: “China asks Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in the two countries.” 

If the conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban does not end, it could lead to further delays for Chinese projects in both countries, which have already faced repeated attacks. 

The Pakistan-Taliban conflict will thus have serious implications not only  for the people of both countries but also for the region at large – especially as Israel-U.S. strikes are destabilizing neighboring Iran.

Due to ongoing issues over the legitimacy of the Durand Line, coupled with the menace of terrorism, a lasting peace between the two countries – the prerequisite for stability and economic growth – seems to be a distant dream. Until that dream becomes reality, people on both sides of the border will keep on suffering.

Get to the bottom of the story

Subscribe today and join thousands of diplomats, analysts, policy professionals and business readers who rely on The Diplomat for expert Asia-Pacific coverage.

Get unlimited access to in-depth analysis you won't find anywhere else, from South China Sea tensions to ASEAN diplomacy to India-Pakistan relations. More than 5,000 articles a year.

Unlimited articles and expert analysis

Weekly newsletter with exclusive insights

16-year archive of diplomatic coverage

Ad-free reading on all devices

Support independent journalism

Already have an account? Log in.

On February 27, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (Righteous Fury) against its former ally, the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is the first attack in which Pakistan directly targeted the Afghan Taliban. Prior to this attack, Pakistan claimed to have only targeted the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the country. By targeting Kabul, Kandahar – where the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based – and Paktika, Pakistan marked the first direct attack at the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. 

Pakistan claimed that it launched the operation after the “unprovoked firing” from across the border by the Taliban. “Our patience has now run out,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said. “Now it is open war between us.” 

Asif said that after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021, Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan and expected the Taliban to focus on regional stability and the welfare of the people of Afghanistan. He alleged that instead of doing that, the Taliban began “exporting terrorism” after gathering militants from across the world. 

In October 2025, both Pakistan and Afghanistan also carried out attacks inside each other’s territory. The strikes stopped after a ceasefire was reached on October 19, with mediation by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye. However, the ceasefire proved to be short-lived, as successive rounds of mediation between Kabul and Islamabad could not solve the underlying issues. 

Pakistan struck Afghanistan on February 21, targeting terrorist “camps and hideouts” used by the militant groups, mainly the TTP. Islamabad claimed the strike was in response to the recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including suicide bombings a Shia mosque in Islamabad, in Bajaur and twice in Bannu – all conducted, Pakistan said, by terrorist groups using Afghan soil as their home base. 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a post on X:“Pakistan in a retributive response carried out intelligence based selective targeting of seven Terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban of FAK and its affiliates and ISKP at the border region of Pakistan Afghan border with precision and accuracy.” It added: “Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism were perpetrated by Khwarij on behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”

On the night of February 26, the Taliban struck Pakistan. The Taliban claimed they launched attacks against Pakistan’s military checkpoints along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in response to Pakistan’s strikes inside Afghanistan’s territory. The Afghan Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a post on X, which was later deleted, that they had launched strikes against Pakistani military positions in Helmund and Kandahar. The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense announced that during these retaliatory attacks along the Durand Line, it killed 110 Pakistani soldiers along with injuring 68 more. It also claimed that the Taliban forces had captured 27 posts that belonged to the Pakistani military. 

In response to the attacks – which Pakistan called “unprovoked firing” – Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Taliban. According to Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, as of March 1, 415 members of the Afghan Taliban have been killed, and over 580 have been injured. Tarar also claimed that182 checks post have been destroyed and 31 posts have been captured. 

These strikes are the first by Pakistan to directly target the Taliban in Afghanistan. Previously, Pakistan claimed to precisely target terror groups operating from Afghanistan. 

On April 16, 2022, for example, Pakistan launched its first air strikes over eastern Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power, asserting that it targeted the TTP militants. However, as per news reports, dozens of civilians were also killed, which provoked the Taliban to issue threats against its former ally. 

On March 18, 2024, Pakistan carried out strikes in districts of Khost and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan, in which eight individuals, including five members of the TTP, were killed. In July 2024, Asif told the BBC that “Pakistan will continue to launch attacks against Afghanistan as part of a new military operation aimed at countering terrorism.” He also claimed that “the aerial strikes were targeting groups which Pakistan accuses of targeting security forces and civilians.” 

Responding to this, the Taliban called the Pakistani defense minister’s statement “irresponsible” and warned Pakistan that there would be “consequences” for the cross-border attacks. 

On December 24, 2024, the Taliban authorities said that Pakistan carried out strikes in eastern Afghanistan in Paktika’s Barmal district in which several civilians, including women and children, were killed. Anonymous sources inside Pakistan confirmed that Pakistan had carried out strikes inside Afghanistan targeting terrorist facilities and claimed that during the action, Pakistan destroyed a training facility and eliminated several militant commanders belonging to the TTP. A few days later on December 28, the Taliban’s Defense Ministry claimed to have hit several points inside Pakistan in response. 

Throughout 2025, both sides exchanged fire across their borders. In August, Pakistan conducted drone strikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar, Nangarhar, and Khost provinces targeting TTP militants. However, the situation escalated significantly in October, marking the onset of true conflict between the two nations. Now Pakistan has officially declared “open war” on the Taliban.

The core of conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban is the TTP, which Pakistan alleges is being sheltered by the Taliban inside Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, denies the TTP has a presence inside Afghanistan. The Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the TTP controls large areas in Pakistan, thus, it does not need Afghan territory. “Security challenges inside Pakistan have no connection to Afghanistan,” Mujahid insisted, saying Pakistan “must resolve their own issues and refrain from further harming their ties with Afghanistan, as this would be detrimental to both countries and the entire region.” 

Both sides accuse each other of having foreign back in the growing conflict. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of serving as an Indian proxy. According to Asif, “India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul.” 

India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed this as “another attempt by Pakistan to externalize its internal failures.” However, India’s relations with the Taliban significantly improved in 2025 – to the extent that a Taliban diplomat took charge of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi in January 2026.

On the other hand, people in Afghanistan believe that Pakistan’s strikes are being instigated by the United States. A prominent Afghan journalist, commenting on the situation, said: “An uncomfortable pattern is also being discussed that when Pakistani leadership visits Washington. (PM Sharif’s visit for Trump’s board of peace last week) soon after, escalation follows in Afghanistan. Whether coincidence or strategy, Afghans are left asking difficult questions.” 

In these tit-for-tat strikes and the ensuing blame game, China’s interests in both countries are also at stake. China, until August last year, was taking both countries forward together and discussing the inclusion of Afghanistan into the Belt and Road Initiative via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. That plan could be delayed or even scrapped entirely due to the souring relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning shared Beijing’s concerns in a press conference. “As their neighbor and friend, China is deeply concerned over the escalation of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict and is saddened by the casualties,” Mao said. “China supports combating all forms of terrorism and calls on the two sides to remain calm, exercise restraint, properly resolve differences and disputes through dialogue and negotiation, and end the fighting as soon as possible, and avoid more sufferings.” 

Moreover, implicitly referring to China’s interests in both countries, she added: “China asks Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in the two countries.” 

If the conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban does not end, it could lead to further delays for Chinese projects in both countries, which have already faced repeated attacks. 

The Pakistan-Taliban conflict will thus have serious implications not only  for the people of both countries but also for the region at large – especially as Israel-U.S. strikes are destabilizing neighboring Iran.

Due to ongoing issues over the legitimacy of the Durand Line, coupled with the menace of terrorism, a lasting peace between the two countries – the prerequisite for stability and economic growth – seems to be a distant dream. Until that dream becomes reality, people on both sides of the border will keep on suffering.

Muhammad Murad is a Ph.D. Political Science Candidate at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Afghanistan-Pakistan clashes

Afghanistan-Pakistan cross-border strikes

Pakistan strikes on Afghanistan

Pakistan-Taliban relations

© The Diplomat