Fresh deadly clashes have erupted along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, with Islamabad and Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban exchanging fire and accusing each other of violating a fragile ceasefire.
Overnight fighting forced residents to flee the Afghan border city of Spin Boldak, located along the 1,600-mile frontier shared by the two neighbours. A medical source in Kandahar told BBC Pashto that four bodies had been received at a local hospital, while Pakistani authorities reported three people injured on their side of the border.
Both Pakistan and the Taliban confirmed that gunfire was exchanged for about four hours, but each blamed the other for initiating the clashes. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, described the incident as “unprovoked firing” by Taliban forces and said Pakistani troops responded “immediately, befittingly and intensely” to protect the country’s territorial integrity and citizens.
The Taliban, however, accused Pakistan of launching renewed attacks, saying its fighters were compelled to retaliate.
Videos from the area showed large numbers of Afghans fleeing on foot and in vehicles, with residents in neighbouring towns also evacuating amid fears that the violence could spread.
The latest clashes come less than two months after a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey temporarily halted the worst fighting between the two sides since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Despite that agreement, tensions have remained high, with sporadic skirmishes continuing and the Taliban accusing Pakistan of conducting airstrikes inside Afghan territory.
Pakistan has long alleged that Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities provide safe haven to militant groups responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, claims the Taliban firmly deny. Instead, the Afghan government has accused Islamabad of deflecting blame for its own security lapses.
The incident also follows a fourth round of talks between Pakistani and Afghan delegations in Saudi Arabia last week, which aimed at securing a broader peace deal but ended without a breakthrough.
