Pakistan Strikes 10 Afghan Sites as Drone Threat Escalates, Official Says

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan conducted aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan that Islamabad said were being used to launch and store drones targeting Pakistani territory, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced on Thursday. The action marked a significant escalation in tensions between the two neighbors.

The strikes followed Pakistan’s claim that its air defenses intercepted drones launched from Afghan territory on Wednesday before they reached their intended targets. They also came days after a deadly militant assault on a police compound in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, killed 23 people, including 17 police officers. Eight attackers were killed during a subsequent security operation.

Islamabad has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out cross-border attacks in Pakistan, an allegation Kabul denies.

“In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defense, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones,” Tarar said in a statement posted on X.

“The strikes were deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan.”

Tarar described the drone incursions as a “blatant violation” of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, accusing the Taliban authorities of worsening tensions through hostile operations.

Pakistani security sources said eight drones entered the country from Afghanistan on Wednesday. Four were intercepted near the Torkham border, while the remaining four were shot down in mountainous areas close to Kohat.

Tarar did not identify the 10 targeted sites or provide any casualty figures.

A resident of Kandahar, the southern Afghan city where Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada lives, told AFP that an airstrike hit the city overnight. The resident said a jet was heard before a large explosion, after which a fire became visible in the city center.

Afghan officials also reported Pakistani strikes in the eastern provinces of Paktia and Khost. Mohammad Rasool Ahmadi, spokesman for the Paktia governor, said jets had bombed the Afghan army’s 203rd Mansouri Corps. A Khost official said the strikes there caused no casualties.

The confrontation reflects rapidly deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with militant violence becoming a central source of friction between Islamabad and Kabul.

Tarar said Pakistan had repeatedly raised concerns with the Afghan Taliban “regarding the continued presence of terrorist sanctuaries and their support networks on Afghan soil.”

“Instead of dismantling these networks and taking credible and verifiable action against those using Afghan territory to perpetrate terrorism against Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban regime has chosen to escalate the situation through hostile drone operations against Pakistan,” he added.

Pakistan earlier this week said it had struck three targets in eastern Afghanistan, killing 28 militants and suicide bombers. Afghan authorities reported at least three civilian deaths and four injuries, figures confirmed by the United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

Last week, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned that Afghanistan would defend itself against Pakistani military action within its territory, asserting Kabul’s right to respond to violations of its sovereignty.

On Thursday, Pakistan warned that it would retaliate against any further attacks originating from Afghanistan.

“Pakistan does not seek escalation and remains committed to regional peace, dialogue and constructive engagement,” Tarar said. “This commitment must not be mistaken for weakness or an unlimited tolerance of hostile actions.”

He urged the Taliban government to “immediately cease all hostile activity against Pakistan” and take effective, verifiable and sustained action against militant groups operating from Afghan territory.

“Pakistan will neither accept nor tolerate attacks launched from Afghan territory, whether by terrorist groups or by the Afghan Taliban regime itself,” Tarar said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have faced sporadic cross-border clashes since October last year. Although the countries agreed to a ceasefire in March, mediation by regional states has yet to produce a durable settlement, with anti-Pakistan militants operating from Afghanistan remaining a major point of dispute.

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