Afghanistan retaliates after Pakistani airstrikes kill eight civilians
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Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry had summoned the head of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul to protest against Monday's strikes.
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Afghan refugees wave flags of Afghanistan and Pakistan (R) as they travel with their belongings on a truck towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan Torkham border on November 3, 2023. (Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP)
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said its border forces retaliated against airstrikes by Pakistan's military that killed eight civilians Monday by targeting Pakistan's military posts along the border with "heavy weapons."
Monday's strikes came after seven Pakistani troops were killed in an attack by an armed group inside Pakistan's territory on Saturday, for which President Asif Ali Zardari vowed retaliation.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani aircraft "bombed civilian homes" in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan at around 3:00 am (2230 GMT Sunday), adding that all of the dead were women and children.
The Taliban government "strongly condemns these attacks and calls this reckless action a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty," Mujahid said in his statement.
"Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will be out (of) Pakistan's control."
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday it had carried out "anti-terrorist operations in the border regions inside Afghanistan."
It said in a statement it was targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, one of several factions of the homegrown Pakistani Taliban, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that are responsible for a surge in border violence against police and security officials.
The strikes prompted a call from the United States for Pakistan, once a key ally, to "exercise restraint."
"We urge the Taliban to ensure that terrorist attacks are not launched from Afghan soil and we urge Pakistan to exercise restraint and ensure civilians are not harmed in their counterterrorism efforts," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
Islamabad has accused Kabul's Taliban government of harboring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity; allegations that Kabul has denied.
Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on X it had summoned the head of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul to protest against Monday's strikes.
It called on Pakistan's new government to "not allow some circles to complicate the relationship between two neighbouring Muslim countries."
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, in turn, said that "certain elements among those in power in Afghanistan are actively patronising TTP and using them as a proxy against Pakistan," urging them "to make a clear choice to stand with the people of Pakistan."
"Pakistan has decided that whoever will enter our borders, homes or country and commit terror, we will respond to them strongly, regardless of who it is or from which country," President Asif Ali Zardari vowed while attending the funeral prayers of the killed Pakistani soldiers.
A Pakistani military statement said security forces also carried out an operation overnight Sunday in the North Waziristan district, which borders Khost and Paktika, killing eight militants accused of being involved in Saturday's attack.
