🔗 Share this article

New hostilities broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border early on Wednesday morning, with each side accusing the opposing side of initiating lethal confrontations.

The Pakistani military announced that its troops had killed "15-20 Afghan Taliban" and injured numerous others in the Spin Boldak district border district.

A Afghan authorities spokesman claimed that 12 non-combatants had been fatally struck and over a hundred injured by artillery from Pakistan. He added that numerous military personnel had been killed. None of the alleged fatalities could be verified by third parties.

Violence between the neighbouring countries has flared since blasts rocked Afghanistan recently, which the Afghan capital attributed on Pakistan. The Afghan leadership reject claims that it is sheltering militants aiming at Pakistan.

Social Media and Military Engagements

The two sides are not only fighting for the upper hand on the frontier, but also on social media, trying to convince the general population that their side is causing more damage.

The most recent clashes follow severe cross-border hostilities over the past few days, when the Taliban asserted to have eliminated 58 members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Islamabad said it neutralized 200 "Taliban and affiliated insurgents". The claimed death tolls announced by each side could not be confirmed by external sources.

A few days of unstable peace that had lasted since the weekend were shattered on Wednesday morning.

Local Reports and Impact

Footage allegedly of the fighting and its aftermath have been circulated on the internet and on social channels, including footage claiming to be of those deceased and blurry shots from night vision cameras claiming to be of guard positions demolished. These videos have not been verified.

A source in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan reported that fighting erupted at around 4 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. GMT on Tuesday). Another local in Spin Boldak, who lives about a short distance away from the frontier post, reported that "very heavy hostilities continued for almost five hours".

"I see drones and jets soaring over us, a number of our relatives are wounded," they added.

A doctor in one of the hospitals in Spin Boldak reported that he counted "7 bodies and 36 wounded transported to the medical center", including males, females and minors.

The situation were "tense" and more casualties were being transferred to medical care, he said.

Displacement and Global Reactions

A local Taliban official in the area announced that "hundreds of households have been displaced since the previous evening due to the intense clashes". He said they were on "maximum readiness" after a few military positions were attacked by Pakistani jets. He added that they had the remains of two Pakistani military members.

In a separate overnight clash on Pakistan's north-western border, the Pakistani military claimed that twenty-five to thirty militant and local insurgent fighters were "suspected" to have been eliminated.

The hostilities have led to calls for de-escalation from foreign nations including China and Moscow, as well as a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he could step in to broker peace.

On Wednesday, Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on the conditions of civil liberties in Afghanistan, posted on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by accounts of non-combatant deaths and displacement because of the clashes.

"I call on all parties to practice maximum restraint, safeguard civilians, and follow global regulations," he stated.

Long-Standing Disputes

Pakistan has long alleged the Afghan Taliban of permitting the Pakistan Taliban to function from their territory and battle against the Pakistani administration in an effort to impose a rigid Islamic-led system of rule.

The Afghan Taliban government has always rejected these allegations.