Afghanistan retaliates against Pakistani airstrikes

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces hit several points inside Pakistan in retaliation for deadly airstrikes last week.

Pakistan last Tuesday launched an operation to destroy a training facility and kill insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province. The strikes killed dozens of people, mostly women and children.

Comments from the Taliban Defense Ministry on Saturday, posted on X, said its forces targeted Pakistani points that “served as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organized and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan.”

The ministry spokesman, Enayatullah Khwarzami, gave no further information about the strikes, including how they were carried out and if there were any casualties on either side.

A pro-Taliban media outlet, Hurriyet Daily News, reported ministry sources as saying that the strikes killed 19 Pakistani troops and that three Afghan civilians died in the violence. No one from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry was immediately available for comment.

Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of not doing enough to combat cross-border militant activity, a charge the Taliban government denies, saying it does not allow anyone to carry out attacks against any country from its soil.