Afghan-Pakistan Border Clashes Leave Over 50 Afghans Dead

(MENAFN) More than 50 Afghan civilians have perished in escalating cross-border hostilities with Pakistan, Kabul announced Saturday, as the combined death toll from days of intense fighting climbed to at least 78.

Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat confirmed in statements posted on X that since Thursday, "52 civilians, majority of whom are women and children, have been killed, 66 have been injured, eight houses have been completely destroyed."

The casualties span five provinces — Paktika, Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, and Kandahar. Islamabad offered no immediate comment on the allegations.

The current flashpoint traces back to late Thursday, when Kabul launched what it described as "retaliatory operations" along the frontier following Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday. Islamabad countered with sustained artillery fire and aerial bombardments across multiple Afghan provinces.

Of the 78 confirmed dead on both sides, Pakistan reported 12 of its soldiers and one civilian killed, with one soldier still unaccounted for. Kabul acknowledged losing 13 of its own troops in addition to the 52 civilian fatalities.

Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar offered a sharply different picture Saturday, claiming that 352 Afghan Taliban operatives and suspected militants have been killed and 535 injured in airstrikes and clashes since Thursday. Kabul, in turn, asserted that 56 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the border clashes. Neither government's figures could be independently verified.

Islamabad has maintained that its military response amounted to legitimate "self defense" and had "ensured" no civilians were targeted — a position Kabul and the UN have firmly disputed.

In a separate development Saturday, Pakistani armed forces intercepted a militant incursion at the Qila Saifullah Sector, state broadcaster Pakistan Television reported, citing security sources. "Multiple terrorists were killed after Pakistani armed forces thwarted the infiltration attempt," the broadcaster reported.

The latest violence follows Pakistan's strikes last Sunday on what it called "terror targets," which it said killed 70 "terrorists." Afghan officials and the UN reported civilian casualties from that attack — allegations Islamabad denies.

Bilateral relations have steadily deteriorated as Pakistan accuses armed militants of using Afghan soil as a staging ground for cross-border attacks — a charge Kabul consistently rejects — even as regional diplomatic channels remain open in an effort to contain the crisis.

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