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Pakistan’s Defense Minister Asif Khawaja alleged that Afghanistan has “turned into a colony of India” since the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021, accusing Kabul of exporting terrorism and violating the rights of its own people.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Khawaja said Afghanistan’s authorities had “deprived their own people of basic human rights” and claimed Pakistan’s patience had been exhausted.
“Pakistan has made every effort to keep the situation normal through direct diplomacy and through friendly countries,” he said. “Our patience has run out. Now it is open war between us.”
Afghan authorities had not responded publicly to Khawaja’s remarks as of Friday.
An uneasy calm prevailed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border early Friday after intense overnight clashes left at least 10 soldiers dead and several others injured, according to officials and local residents.
Authorities in both Islamabad and Kabul confirmed that fighting continued late into the night across multiple border sectors.
Afghan officials said hostilities were halted at midnight. Pakistani security sources, however, said military operations continued beyond that point, including airstrikes carried out by the Pakistan Air Force in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia provinces.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the airstrikes but said no casualties had been reported from those attacks.
Local residents in the mountainous border region said heavy firing continued throughout the night.
“There has been calm since early morning, and there is no firing in the border area right now,” Hidayatullah Khan, a resident of the Bajaur border area, told Anadolu by phone.
Officials from both sides confirmed military casualties, saying 10 soldiers were killed in the clashes, including eight Afghan troops and two Pakistani soldiers. Several others were injured.
Both governments, however, issued sharply conflicting claims about losses inflicted on the opposing side.
Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for foreign media, said 133 Afghan soldiers were killed and more than 200 wounded, with further casualties expected following strikes on what he described as military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.
Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Afghan forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers during four hours of fighting.
Anadolu could not independently verify the claims made by either side.
The latest confrontation marks one of the most serious flare-ups in recent months between the neighboring countries.
Clashes erupted after Afghan forces launched border attacks following Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan on Sunday. Islamabad said those strikes killed 70 “terrorists,” while Afghan officials and the United Nations reported civilian casualties, claims Pakistan has denied.
In response to the border attacks, Pakistan launched expanded air and ground operations, targeting what it described as Afghan military positions using light and heavy weapons.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated as Pakistan accuses militants of operating from Afghan territory, an allegation Kabul rejects, even as diplomatic contacts continue amid efforts to ease tensions.
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