Pakistan strikes Kandahar as Afghan border tensions escalate

Pakistan has carried out air and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan, including the southern city of Kandahar, home to the Taliban government’s supreme leader, as tensions between the two neighbours continue to escalate.

A Kandahar resident told AFP early on September 24 that they heard a jet followed by a large explosion and saw a fire in the centre of the city.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar later confirmed the strikes, saying the military had conducted “precision aerial and drone strikes” against 10 locations in Afghanistan. He said the targets were linked to attempted attacks against Pakistan and accused the Afghan Taliban authorities of allowing “terrorist sanctuaries” to operate on Afghan territory.

Afghan officials said Pakistani aircraft also struck locations in the eastern provinces of Paktia and Khost overnight.

In Paktia, jets bombed the Afghan army’s 203rd Mansouri Corps, according to the provincial governor’s spokesman, Mohammad Rasool Ahmadi. No information on casualties was immediately available. Airstrikes also targeted Khost province, although provincial officials said there were no casualties.

The strikes follow a deadly Pakistani bombardment in eastern Afghanistan earlier this week. The United Nations said at least three civilians were killed, while Pakistan said its attacks had killed 28 militants.

The escalation comes days after a September 18 militant attack on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan that killed at least 31 people. The attack was claimed by militants, further intensifying pressure on Islamabad to address cross-border attacks.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of allowing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghan territory. Islamabad says the group has carried out a sustained campaign of attacks against Pakistan and that Kabul has failed to take action against its members and support networks.

Afghan authorities reject the accusations and have themselves accused Pakistan of harbouring hostile militant groups and violating Afghan sovereignty.

While cross-border strikes have occurred repeatedly, attacks on major Afghan cities are relatively rare. Kandahar and Kabul were both struck during the war between Afghanistan and Pakistan that began in late February, with hundreds of Afghan civilians reportedly killed, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan.

A ceasefire was reached in March, but mediation efforts involving several countries have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement. Security remains the main point of contention between the two sides.