Afghanistan launches 'retaliatory' cross-border attack into Pakistan

The Afghan Taliban forces targeted "several points" in neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan's defense ministry said on Saturday, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out strikes inside Afghanistan.

The statement from the Defence Ministry did not specify Pakistan but said the strikes were conducted "beyond the 'hypothetical line'" - an expression used by Afghan authorities to refer to the Durand Line border with Pakistan that they have long disputed.

Pakistan has not officially confirmed the attack, but a Pakistani security source reported to Nuktathat Taliban forces initiated "unprovoked fire" at Pakistani positions along the Kurram border.

According to the source, Pakistani forces responded with "full force," killing eight Afghan militants and wounding dozens more, forcing Afghan forces to retreat. The source emphasized that no Pakistani personnel were killed in the exchange.

The escalation comes days after high-level diplomatic meetings in Kabul were overshadowed by Pakistan's airstrikes, which drew international concern and prompted the United Nations to call for an investigation.

Pakistan has accused the Taliban of harboring militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while the Taliban denies these claims.

'Don't prioritize terrorists over Pakistan'

Just a day earlier, Pakistan's military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry warned Afghanistan against "prioritizing terrorists over Pakistan," revealing that Pakistani forces had conducted nearly 60,000 counterterrorism operations this year, eliminating 925 militants.

Chaudhry said during a press conference that while Pakistan respects Afghanistan's sovereignty, evidence shows that banned militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, are operating freely from Afghan soil.

"All evidence of terrorism leads to safe havens provided to terrorists on Afghan soil," Chaudhry said. He said that if militants "whose hands are stained with the blood of Pakistanis" continue receiving cross-border support, relations between the two countries would suffer.

The military has conducted nearly 60,000 operations this year, killing 925 militants including 27 Afghan fighters, according to Chaudhry. He also noted that since September, more than 815,000 illegal Afghan residents have returned to Afghanistan as part of Pakistan's crackdown on undocumented migrants.

*With input from Reuters