Pakistan kills several Afghan Taliban fighters in border clash

Pakistani security forces killed several Afghan Taliban fighters in Balochistan's Gulistan sector on September 24, 2026, following an attempted border incursion. The clash erupted amid severe escalation, occurring hours after Pakistan launched airstrikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan in retaliation for eight cross-border drones shot down on September 23, 2026. While Pakistan claims its strikes targeted drone infrastructure, Kabul reports four civilian deaths and vows an appropriate response, highlighting deep-seated tensions over cross-border militancy.

Drone incursions on September 23

• ▪Pakistan shot down eight drones on September 23, 2026, including four near the Torkham border and four near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which Pakistani officials stated entered from Afghan territory
• ▪The Afghan Taliban government denied involvement in the drone incursions into Pakistani airspace on September 23, 2026

Pakistani airstrikes on September 24

• ▪Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on September 24, 2026, targeting sites that Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated were used for launching and storing drones
• ▪Afghan Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid stated that the Pakistani airstrikes on September 24, 2026, targeted Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost provinces, killing four Afghan civilians

September 21 airstrikes

• ▪Pakistan conducted calibrated airstrikes in the Afghan border region on September 21, 2026, which Pakistan's Information Ministry stated killed 28 militants, while Afghan authorities stated the strikes killed three civilians
• ▪The Afghan Taliban government condemned Pakistan's September 21, 2026 airstrikes on militant hideouts along the border and summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires in protest

History of border clashes

• ▪The border clashes in Balochistan's Gulistan sector on September 24, 2026, ended a three-month period of relative calm that followed an attack on a police facility in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan, that killed at least 24 people
• ▪Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in their worst fighting in years in February 2026, and a Pakistani airstrike on Kabul killed over 400 people in March 2026

Accusations of harboring militants

• ▪Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of allowing the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups to use Afghan territory to plan and execute attacks inside Pakistan
• ▪The Afghan Taliban government has rejected Pakistan's allegations of harboring anti-Pakistani armed groups, maintaining that militancy is an internal Pakistani problem

Debatable claims

• ▪The Taliban government bears responsibility for preventing Afghan territory from being used to attack Pakistan
• ▪External mediation is the only effective way to resolve the Pakistan-Afghanistan border conflict
• ▪Pakistan's military strikes inside Afghanistan are a justified act of self-defense