Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence said on Friday that its forces had carried out airstrikes overnight against sites linked to ISIS across the border in Pakistan, according to local media reports. The ministry, in a statement carried by Afghanistan-based news agency Khaama Press, said the strikes hit facilities in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. These sites, it claimed, were being used to plot and coordinate attacks on Afghan soil, with officials linking some of the deadliest assaults Afghanistan has suffered in recent years to networks based in the region.
According to Khaama Press, the ministry said “important and designated targets” had been struck successfully, and cautioned that Kabul would not hold back when dealing with groups it views as a threat to the country.
Writing on X, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence stated, “They have been successfully targeted. It is worth remembering that Afghanistan, henceforth, will not tolerate any threat against its security and stability, and by utilizing all its capabilities and capacities, will neutralize and eliminate any threat in its infancy.”
The strikes mark the latest flashpoint in months of rising friction between Islamabad and Kabul, a period marked by repeated cross-border fire and mounting alarm over civilian deaths.
The tension had already boiled over on June 11, when Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in Kabul to deliver a formal protest over what it called a breach of Afghan airspace and strikes on residential homes that left 13 civilians dead.
That protest followed remarks by Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, who said a strike on the night of June 9 in Afghanistan’s Kunar, Khost and Paktika provinces had killed 11 children, one woman and an elderly man, while leaving 14 more women and children wounded.
In a statement posted on X at the time, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul and presented him with its strong and resolute protest regarding the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and the bombing of the homes of innocent civilians.”
The ministry condemned the strike as a breach of international law, insisting that defending Afghan territory and protecting its people remained its rightful duty. It urged Pakistan to look inward and resolve its own troubles rather than pursue proxy policies, asking pointedly, “How is it possible that the killing of children and women in one region means the establishment of security in another region?”
It closed with a stark warning, “We once again explicitly remind you that the responsibility for all the consequences of these repeated violations and crimes will lie with the Pakistan Army.”
(With IANS inputs)
