Islamabad, 27 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) – Pakistan's air force struck military facilities in neighbouring Afghanistan overnight after an offensive by Afghan Taliban forces, officials said early on Friday, with targets hit in Kabul and the provinces of Kandahar and Paktia.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the strikes on X, saying there were no reports of casualties from the air raids. Pakistan said dozens of Taliban fighters were killed in the attack.

A resident of Kabul told dpa that he woke to the sound of explosions and that jets had been flying over the city for hours. "We woke up terrified, thinking an earthquake had happened," he said.

Earlier, Afghanistan had attacked Pakistani positions along the disputed border, killing 55 Pakistani soldiers and seizing posts in the frontier region, Afghanistan's Defence Ministry said in a statement on X. It also reported that eight Afghan fighters were killed and 11 others wounded, while 13 civilians were injured.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said the armed forces' response was comprehensive and resolute and that the country would make no concessions regarding peace and territorial integrity.

Pakistani minister: 133 Taliban fighters killed in strikes

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed in retaliatory strikes that destroyed weapons depots, tanks and military installations.

The claims by the Afghan and Pakistani sides could not be independently verified.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urged both countries to de-escalate and resolve their differences through diplomatic means, his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said.

Tensions between the two neighbours have escalated since Pakistani airstrikes on Kabul in October and subsequent cross-border clashes.

Earlier this month, the UN said in a report that at least 70 Afghan civilians were killed and 478 injured in the final three months of 2025 in attacks attributed to Pakistani forces.

Peace talks mediated by Qatar and Turkey have failed to produce a lasting solution to the conflict.

Escalating violence along the frontier

Last weekend, Pakistani strikes in Afghanistan killed 13 civilians and wounded seven others, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said. Mujahid described subsequent Taliban attacks on Pakistan as a counteroffensive.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring militants such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and a regional affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State, charges the Taliban deny.

The UN also noted in a recently published report that the government in Kabul provides a favourable environment for various terrorist groups in the country and supports the TTP.

The countries share a roughly 2,400-kilometre border, established in 1893. The route of the de facto border, known as the Durand Line, is disputed between the two countries.

Photo: EPA