How have we got here?published at 05:32 GMT

05:32 GMT

Yogita Limaye
South Asia & Afghanistan correspondent

Pakistan’s leaders have released strong statements on Friday morning with the prime minister Shehbaz Sharif saying his country has the ‘full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions’ and the defence minister Khwaja Asif saying Pakistan was in an ‘open war’ with Afghanistan.

The latest flare up began when the Taliban government declared it had launched a major offensive against Pakistani military posts near the border with Afghanistan on Thursday night. It said it was responding to Pakistani airstrikes earlier in February in which the UN says at least 13 civilians were killed.

Pakistan had said those strikes were targeted at the hideouts of militants who it blamed for carrying out suicide attacks in Pakistani cities.

Now Pakistan has launched a fresh series of airstrikes – this time it's targeted Kabul as well.

While the Taliban government has confirmed the attacks, there is no information so far about what has been hit and if there are any casualties.

Local officials of the Taliban government in Afghanistan have alleged that Pakistani tockets have been fired at a refugee camp in Nangarhar, housing Afghan citizens who had arrived in the country from Pakistan.

The BBC Afghan service quoted the officials as saying that at least nine people were injured - seven women and two men.

The condition of one of those injured is critical, the officials added.

Iran is ready to help "facilitate dialogue" between Pakistan and Afghanistan, its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said in a statement on X.

He also urged the two countries to "resolve their differences through good neighbourliness and dialogue".

Iran has previously offered to mediate between the two countries as border tensions were rising.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Human Rights chief Volker Türk have both commented on the unfolding situation.

Guterres urged both nations to adhere strictly to their obligations under international law, with a specific emphasis on international humanitarian law.

Meanwhile, Türk appealed for dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan amid border clashes and deadly airstrikes,

Image source, Getty Images

The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia has spoken to his Pakistani counterpart in a phone call, the Saudi foreign ministry has said in a statement.

Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud spoke to Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar about "developments in the region" and "ways to reduce tensions", the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement posted hours earlier on X.

Ishaq Dar is currently in Saudi Arabia for an official visit.

Afghan Taliban unlikely to fight a conventional war with Pakistanpublished at 04:00 GMT

04:00 GMT

Analysts have told BBC Urdu that it would be unlikely for the Taliban to fight a conventional war with Pakistan.

There's a significant disparity in military capability between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan's armed forces, which are nuclear-armed, have consistently been ranked in the world's top 15 in military strength.

The Afghan Taliban, on the other hand, lack the same military resources and face their own economic challenges.

The weapons owned by the Taliban military largely come from three sources: those left by the former Afghan army, those from foreign forces that have withdrawn, and new weapons they obtained from sources including the black market.

Experts say videos of past border clashes suggest the Taliban forces have mostly used light weapons against Pakistani forces.

However, the Taliban have extensive experience in guerrilla warfare, analysts say.

An Afghan security expert has told BBC Urdu that many of the Taliban's encounters with Pakistani forces involve guerrilla tactics like surprise attacks and roadside bombs.

Hafizullah Maroof
BBC Afghan Service

I have spoken to a number of residents and local officials in Kabul, as well as the provinces of Kandahar and Nangarhar.

The situation there seems to be calm now, they told me, though both sides of the border remain on high alert.

"We will retaliate if we are attacked, but we won’t start clashes at the moment," a Taliban military spokesperson tells me.

It's now early morning in Kabul, and residents tell me they no longer hear the sound of jets. The city seems to be calm after earlier air strikes from Pakistan.

There are no reports of casualties so far in the strikes which carried out in Kandahar and Paktia as well.

Image source, Getty Images

"This is a terrible dynamic that must stop," said Zalmay Khalilzad, a diplomat who served as the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from 2018 to 2021.

He appeared to be responding to an earlier announcement from the Taliban that they had launched retaliatory operations against Pakistan.

"Innocent Afghans and Pakistanis are getting injured or killed," he wrote on X.

"A better option is a diplomatic agreement between the 2 countries that neither would allow its territory to be used by individuals and groups to threaten the security of the other."

He said the implementation of such an agreement should be monitored by a third party, like Turkiye.

Last year, Khalilzad was part of a US delegation visiting the country to meet with Taliban officials.

More from Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister:

"The entire nation stands by the Pakistani Armed Forces," he said, according to a series of posts on the government's X account.

Other posts praise the military which he says "are performing their duties with national spirit".

"The people and armed forces of Pakistan are always ready to protect the country's security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"Pakistan's armed forces are determined not to allow the peace and security of the country to be compromised under any circumstances."

Image source, Getty Images

Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister, says the country's forces "have the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions".

"There will be no compromise on the defense of the beloved homeland and every aggression will be met with a befitting reply," he said, according to a series of posts on the Pakistani government's X account.

Pakistan has most recently targeted the Afghan cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika close to their long mountainous border that spans 2,600 km (1,615 miles).

Pakistani strikes have so far destroyed 27 Afghan Taliban military posts and captured nine others, according to Mosharraf Zaidi, the spokesperson for Pakistan's prime minister.

They have also destroyed more than 80 tanks, artillery and armed personnel carriers, he said.

"Pakistan’s immediate and effective response to aggression continues," he wrote on X.

The Taliban defence ministry said it captured 19 Pakistani military posts and two bases on Thursday night. A total of 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, the ministry said.

As a reminder, it's hard to verify these figures. Throughout the recent hostilities, both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses on the other.

Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images

According to Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistan's prime minister, a total of 133 Afghan Taliban have been killed and more than 200 have been wounded so far by Pakistani forces.

There were "many more casualites" from Pakistan's strikes in Afghanistan in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar on Friday, he wrote on X.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban, wrote on X that "no one was injured" in those latest Pakistani strikes.

But an important reminder: these numbers are hard to verify.

During these hostilities, both sides have claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other while suffering little damage to their own.

Image source, Getty Images

Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari commended his country's response against the Afghan Taliban attacks.

“Our armed forces' response is comprehensive & decisive," he wrote on X on Friday morning.

"Those who mistake our peace for weakness will face a strong response - and no one will be beyond reach."

The president said in a separate post that Pakistan is "fully aware of where the planners, facilitators and patrons of violence are based" and warned that those responsible will face consequences.

We reported earlier that Zabihullah Mujahid, the Afghan Taliban spokesperson, had said they had launched retaliatory strikes early on Friday against Pakistani military positions in Kandahar and Helmand.

That post on X has now been deleted, and we have yet to find confirmation from the Taliban about those strikes.

We'll bring you the latest updates when we get them.

As with previous rounds of hostilities between Pakistani and Afghan forces, each side has accused the other of attacking first. And both claim to have inflicted heavy losses on the other side.

Pakistani authorities said on Friday that they launched "counter strikes" on cities including Kabul and Kandahar, in response to "unprovoked Afghan attacks".

The Afghan Taliban said it had launched the "large-scale" operation in response to strikes earlier this week, which it claimed had killed at least 18 people. Islamabad said it had targeted alleged militant camps and hideouts.

Taliban military spokesman Mawlawi Wahidullah Mohammadi said the "retaliatory operation" had been launched at around 20:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Thursday.

The group's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the offensive had killed "numerous" Pakistani soldiers and captured others - but that claim was denied by Pakistani authorities.

Loud blasts shook the Afghanistan capital of Kabul in the early hours of the morning, according to an AFP news team on the ground.

Explosions accompanied by the sound of jets could be heard across the city around 01:50 (20:50 GMT Thursday), they said, adding that rounds of gunfire were heard in central Kabul until around 02:30.

Image source, EPA

The strikes on Kabul and Kandahar are the latest in a series of clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, despite both nations agreeing to a fragile ceasefire in October 2025.

Last week, Pakistan carried out multiple overnight air strikes on Afghanistan, which the Taliban said killed at least 18 people, including women and children.

Islamabad confirmed the attacks targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and said they were launched following recent suicide bombings in Pakistan. Kabul meanwhile said civilian homes and a religious school had been targeted, with women and children among the dead.

The Afghan Taliban said it has launched a "large-scale" operation in response, and on Thursday alleged that their offensive had killed "numerous" Pakistani soldiers.

This was denied by a spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister, who also contested Taliban spokesman Mujahid's claim that 15 military posts had been captured.

Later that day, Pakistan confirmed that two of its soldiers had been killed and three more injured, after soldiers responded to the "unprovoked fire" along their shared border.

Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja M Asif, has declared "open war" on the Afghan Taliban government in a strongly-worded post on X, external.

His declaration comes after a series of strikes on major Afghan cities after its forces attacked Pakistani troops.

Khawaja wrote: "Pakistan made every effort to keep the situation normal through direct means and through friendly countries. It engaged in full-fledged diplomacy."

"Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you."

The two sides had agreed a fragile ceasefire in October after a series of deadly clashes, though subsequent fighting has still taken place.

Pakistan has confirmed strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar, according to a government official, in what they said was retaliation for earlier attacks.

It come hours after Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed after an Afghan Taliban operation along their shared border.

This is an unfolding situation - stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.