Following months of tit-for-tat clashes, Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly airstrikes. Afghanistan’s defence ministry said that 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in the border clashes on Thursday, with some bodies taken into Afghanistan, including several “captured alive”. Afghanistan said its military launched its attack across the border into Pakistan late on Thursday in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas on Sunday. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,611km-long border known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has not formally recognised. Tension has been high between the two neighbours for months, with deadly border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.

Source: The Guardian February 27, 2026 15:41 UTC