Heavy Clashes Shut Pakistan–Afghanistan Border

Heavy fighting broke out overnight along the Pakistan–Afghanistan frontier between Pakistani forces and Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, triggering the closure of key crossings and leaving sharply disputed casualty tolls.

The exchanges, concentrated along multiple points of the 2,600-km border, followed days of mounting tension after an alleged Pakistani airstrike in Kabul earlier in the week.
Pakistan’s military said Taliban units attacked several of its border posts late Saturday into Sunday, prompting retaliatory strikes with artillery and other heavy weapons.

Islamabad reported 23 soldiers killed and 29 wounded, and said its forces destroyed several Afghan positions and neutralised “over 200 militants” in counter-operations. Afghan officials offered a conflicting account, claiming their forces seized or damaged numerous Pakistani posts and killed 58 Pakistani soldiers while acknowledging Afghan casualties without providing firm figures.

As the situation escalated, Pakistan shut major crossings, including Torkham and Chaman, as well as smaller gates such as Kharlachi, Angoor Adda, and Ghulam Khan, disrupting trade and humanitarian flows.

Islamabad again accused Kabul of allowing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militants to mount attacks from Afghan soil; the Taliban administration denied harbouring the TTP and said any militancy inside Pakistan is Islamabad’s internal problem.

Both sides framed their actions as defensive and accused the other of violating sovereignty.

Regional and international actors urged restraint and dialogue amid fears of further escalation, with reports that some diplomatic outreach—including from Gulf states—was underway to cool tempers. By Sunday afternoon, intermittent fire was still reported in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, though direct engagement had slowed, and attention turned to whether border closures and military alerts would remain in place over the coming days.

Sources: Reuters; The Guardian; Financial Times; Al Jazeera; Associated Press.