1 day ago
Deadly Pakistani Strikes in Afghanistan Prompt Taliban Response Threat
Taliban officials say Pakistan used airplanes to attack two Afghan provinces on Monday.
They said a house in Kunar was destroyed.
Three people died and four people were hurt there.
Reports differ on whether the victims were members of one family or local civilians more generally.
A shop and an empty house in Paktika were also reportedly hit, but nobody was said to be hurt there.
The Taliban called the strikes aggression and promised an “appropriate response.”
Pakistan says armed groups linked to the TTP are operating from Afghanistan and carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies allowing those groups to operate there.
The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have raised concerns about civilian harm and called for investigations.
Taliban officials said Pakistani airstrikes hit Kunar and Paktika provinces early Monday.
Three people were reportedly killed and four injured when a house was destroyed in Kunar.
A shop and an unoccupied house were reportedly damaged in Paktika, with no casualties reported there.
Pakistan has accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing TTP-linked militants to operate from Afghan territory.
UNAMA recorded 57 deaths and 342 injuries from cross-border violence in Afghanistan between April 1 and June 30.
- Who
- Pakistani security forces and Afghanistan’s Taliban government, represented by Zabihullah Mujahid and Hamdullah Fitrat, are involved.
- What
- Airstrikes reportedly hit Kunar and Paktika, killing three people and injuring four in Kunar, according to Taliban officials.
- Where
- Kunar and Paktika provinces in eastern Afghanistan.
- When
- Early Monday, reportedly around 3:00 a.m.; UNAMA’s cited cross-border casualty figures cover April 1 through June 30.
- Why
- Pakistan has accused the Taliban government of allowing TTP-linked armed groups to operate from Afghan territory; Taliban officials said the strikes were aggression and a diversion from Pakistan’s internal security problems.
Taliban government’s account
Pakistan’s stated security concerns
Responsibility and targets
Taliban government’s account
Taliban officials said Pakistani jets attacked Afghan territory and civilian locations, including a home in Kunar and buildings in Paktika.
Pakistan’s stated security concerns
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of failing to stop armed groups, especially the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, from operating from Afghanistan; the articles do not provide a direct Pakistani statement about these specific strikes.
Casualties and accountability
Taliban government’s account
Taliban officials reported three deaths and four injuries in Kunar and condemned the strikes as aggression, while warning of an appropriate response.
Pakistan’s stated security concerns
Human Rights Watch said reported civilian deaths warrant independent investigations, while stressing that both attacking and defending forces retain obligations under international humanitarian law.
Context for the strikes
Taliban government’s account
Zabihullah Mujahid accused Pakistan’s military leadership of using the attacks to divert attention from security failures inside Pakistan.
Pakistan’s stated security concerns
The reported strikes followed a deadly attack on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan, which a faction linked to the TTP claimed responsibility for; Pakistan says such militants operate from Afghan territory, an allegation the Taliban denies.
Key facts
- Kunar casualties
- Taliban officials reported three deaths and four injuries after a house was struck in Nurgal district.
- Reported victims
- One account described the dead as one woman and two men and the injured as two women and two men; another said three members of the same family were killed.
- Paktika damage
- A shop and an unoccupied house were reportedly bombarded, with no casualties reported.
- UNAMA figures
- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported 57 deaths and 342 injuries from cross-border armed violence between April 1 and June 30.
- Children and women affected
- UNAMA reported 26 children killed and 86 injured, along with six women killed and 34 injured, during that period.
- Reported source of UNAMA casualties
- UNAMA attributed all recorded cross-border civilian casualties in that period to Pakistani security forces.
- Rights investigation
- Human Rights Watch called for impartial investigations into possible war crimes and emphasized obligations to protect civilians.
Quotes
Zabihullah Mujahid
Spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government
“Crime and Aggression: Last night, the invading Pakistani army bombarded civilian areas of Afghanistan in Kunar and Paktika provinces. In Kunar, one woman and two men were martyred, and two women and two men were wounded; all of them are local civilian residents. In Paktika, one house and one local shop were bombed, with no casualties reported.”
thehansindia.com
“We condemn this aggression and oppression and consider it a repetition of crimes. Pakistan's military establishment, in order to divert attention from its own internal security failures, has once again committed such a crime. Afghans will give an appropriate response to this aggression, God willing.”
wionews.com
thehansindia.com
Sources
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