The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Pakistani and Taliban border forces exchanged fire at dozens of points along their shared border on Friday, as the United Nations said the week-long conflict has displaced more than 100,000 people, Reuters reported.
The escalating clashes mark the most intense fighting between the two sides in years and have added to tensions in the region, which is also facing instability following recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, a country that borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to Reuters, the fighting has included Pakistani airstrikes on Taliban government facilities, including the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Taliban forces attacked Pakistani military installations at more than two dozen locations along the 2,600-kilometer border, claiming to have destroyed 14 military posts and shot down a drone.
The ministry said seven Afghan civilians and three Taliban fighters were killed in overnight clashes.
Pakistani security sources, however, said their forces carried out ground and air operations against military targets, including in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban leadership, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.
Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered in Kabul on Friday to protest Pakistan’s attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, according to a witness. The Taliban-run Bakhter News Agency also reported a large protest in Laghman province against Pakistan’s recent strikes.
Residents of border towns told Reuters that heavy shelling often begins after sunset, placing homes in the line of fire as families prepare to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Haji Shah Iran, a Pakistani laborer living in the border town of Torkham, said he had fled with his family and was now staying with friends.
“When we leave our homes in the morning, shells start raining down on us,” he told Reuters. “Shells have damaged our homes. Our belongings are still there.”
The town appeared quiet on Friday, with only a few vehicles on the roads. Some homes had been damaged by the fighting, and black smoke could be seen rising across the border, according to witnesses.
The U.N. refugee agency said the situation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border remains tense amid ongoing hostilities.
According to the agency, about 115,000 people in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Pakistan are believed to have fled their homes due to the fighting.
Several countries, including Turkey, have offered to mediate a ceasefire, but diplomatic efforts have so far failed to produce talks.
Pakistani government spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said Islamabad has no plans to negotiate with the Taliban.
“There is nothing to talk about. There will be no dialogue and no negotiations,” Zaidi told Pakistan TV, adding that terrorism originating from Afghanistan must end.
The latest conflict began last week after Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan, which Islamabad said targeted militant hideouts. The Taliban condemned the strikes as a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and announced retaliatory operations.
Pakistan has long accused the Taliban of allowing militant groups to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks into Pakistan. The Taliban denies supporting such groups and says militancy in Pakistan is an internal issue.
On Friday, the Taliban Defense Ministry also claimed it struck a military base in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, though Reuters said it could not independently verify the claim and Pakistan’s military has not reported damage in the area.
Both sides have repeatedly claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other’s forces, but Reuters said these claims remain unverified.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said 56 civilians have been killed and 128 wounded since the fighting began. Taliban authorities, however, say 110 civilians have been killed.
Pakistan has rejected both figures, saying its operations target only militants and their infrastructure.
