Kabul/Islamabad, October 12, 2025 – In a dramatic escalation of longstanding border disputes, Afghan and Pakistani forces engaged in intense cross-border shelling and artillery exchanges late Saturday, marking one of the most severe confrontations along the volatile Durand Line in years. The clashes, which raged through the night and into Sunday morning, have resulted in dozens of casualties on both sides, according to conflicting reports from official sources and local media. This flare-up comes just days after Afghanistan accused Pakistan of launching airstrikes on its sovereign territory, including the capital Kabul, and coincides with a high-profile diplomatic visit by Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi to India – a trip that has further strained Islamabad's relations with both Kabul and New Delhi.
The 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) Durand Line, a colonial-era frontier drawn in 1893 that neither country fully recognizes, has long been a flashpoint for territorial disputes, smuggling, and militant incursions. Saturday's hostilities began around 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. GMT) in eastern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan, including Khost, Nangarhar, Paktika, Paktia, and Kunar. Eyewitness accounts and unverified social media videos captured the night sky illuminated by tracer rounds and exploding ordnance, with heavy artillery fire echoing across remote mountain passes.
Afghanistan's interim Defense Ministry issued a terse statement early Sunday, claiming its forces launched "successful retaliatory operations" targeting Pakistani security outposts along the border. "These operations concluded at midnight local time and were in direct response to repeated violations of Afghanistan’s airspace and airstrikes on Afghan territory by the Pakistani military," the ministry said. Afghan officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, asserted that their troops captured three Pakistani border posts and inflicted significant casualties, estimating 58 Pakistani soldiers killed. Enayatullah Khowarazmi, a Defense Ministry spokesperson, warned that Afghan forces were "prepared to defend their airspace and deliver a strong response" to any further incursions.
Pakistan, however, painted a starkly different picture. Security sources in Islamabad, speaking to Anadolu Agency and Reuters, reported that Afghan border forces initiated the firing without provocation, prompting a robust counteroffensive. "Exchanges of heavy fire have been ongoing since Saturday evening along the eastern border provinces," one official said, noting the use of artillery, tanks, and both light and heavy weaponry. By Sunday afternoon, Pakistani state media quoted military sources claiming their forces had captured 19 Afghan outposts, destroyed several Taliban-held positions, and killed over 200 Afghan fighters, including Taliban affiliates labeled as "terrorists." The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan's military public relations wing, released footage purportedly showing artillery strikes on Afghan forts like Kharchar and Ashraf Sar, with M114A2 howitzers – American-supplied relics from the Cold War era – visible in action.
Casualty figures remain unverified and contested. Afghanistan's Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed in a Kabul press conference that more than 20 Afghan soldiers were killed, but he dismissed Pakistani claims of capturing posts as "propaganda." On the Pakistani side, the military acknowledged 23 soldiers killed but emphasized that the response was defensive, aimed at protecting border communities from what it described as "unprovoked aggression." Local reports from Kurram and Bajaur districts in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province spoke of civilian evacuations, with families fleeing shelling that damaged homes and livestock. In Afghanistan's Barmal District, residents reported mortar strikes hitting villages like Airukam, Kaga, and Garab, though no independent confirmation of civilian deaths has emerged.
The immediate trigger for Saturday's clashes traces back to Thursday night, October 10, when two explosions rocked Kabul near Abdul Haq Square, and a third struck a market in Paktika province's Margha region – areas bordering Pakistan. The Taliban administration swiftly blamed the Pakistani Air Force, accusing it of violating Afghan airspace to target Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. "This is a blatant act of aggression against our sovereignty," an Afghan official told AFP at the time. The strikes were reportedly aimed at TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud, an internationally designated terrorist whose group has claimed responsibility for a surge in attacks inside Pakistan, including a deadly assault on a military convoy in North Waziristan last week that killed 11 soldiers.
Islamabad neither confirmed nor denied involvement but reiterated its longstanding grievance: that Afghanistan harbors TTP fighters, allowing them to launch cross-border raids that have killed hundreds of Pakistani security personnel this year alone. "We will do everything necessary to protect our citizens from these threats," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, echoing Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif's recent parliamentary address where he vowed "no leniency" toward militant sanctuaries. The TTP, an outlawed umbrella of militant factions ideologically aligned with but distinct from the Afghan Taliban, has intensified operations since the latter's 2021 takeover of Kabul, exploiting porous borders for training and logistics. Pakistan estimates over 1,000 TTP attacks in 2025, a 50% rise from the previous year, fueling accusations that Kabul turns a blind eye – or worse, provides tacit support.
This is not an isolated incident. A pattern of sporadic firefights has persisted since early 2024, including joint TTP-Taliban raids on Pakistani posts in North Waziristan on January 3 and Pakistani helicopter strikes in Bajaur on January 9. February saw evacuations in Helmand's Bahram Chah district amid small-scale skirmishes, while December 2024 brought unsubstantiated claims of TTP capturing 15 border posts in Bajaur. Analysts like Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center describe the current escalation as a "perfect storm," blending intensified Pakistani strikes, Taliban reprisals, and unresolved grievances over the Durand Line's legitimacy. "Cross-border attacks on Pakistani forces, unusually aggressive strikes in Afghanistan, and retaliations have created a volatile mix," Kugelman told The Guardian.
Compounding the military tensions is the diplomatic theater unfolding in New Delhi. Muttaqi's week-long visit, from October 9 to 16 – the first by a senior Taliban official since 2021 – has been hailed as a pragmatic breakthrough in India-Afghanistan ties, but it has infuriated Pakistan. Granted a UN travel waiver on September 30 despite his sanctioned status, Muttaqi arrived amid India's recalibration of its Afghan policy: from supporting the pre-2021 Western-backed government to engaging the Taliban on humanitarian and economic fronts. On Friday, October 10, he met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for delegation-level talks, followed by a joint statement expressing mutual commitments to sovereignty, territorial integrity, and counter-terrorism.
The statement drew Islamabad's ire, particularly its reference to Afghanistan's "strong condemnation" of the April Pahalgam terror attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 and sparked four days of India-Pakistan hostilities. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the Afghan ambassador Saturday, lodging "strong reservations" over the Kashmir mention, calling it a "clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the legal status of Jammu and Kashmir." The ministry also rejected Muttaqi's assertion during a New Delhi press conference that militancy in Pakistan is an "internal matter," insisting Kabul has been presented with "irrefutable evidence" of TTP operations from Afghan soil. "This is not just rhetoric; it's a dangerous alignment," a Pakistani diplomat told Arab News anonymously.
Muttaqi's itinerary underscored the visit's symbolic weight. On Saturday, he attended events at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a New Delhi think tank, and Darul Uloom Deoband, an influential Islamic seminary in Uttar Pradesh – a nod to shared clerical ties between Afghan ulema and Indian Deobandi scholars who inspired the Taliban's ideology. "India and Afghanistan have historical bonds among scholars; we discussed strengthening them," Muttaqi said. A planned Sunday trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra was abruptly canceled amid the border crisis, with Muttaqi instead holding a second press conference at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi. There, he fielded questions on women's rights, clarifying that restrictions on girls' education are "temporary" and not "haram" (forbidden), noting 2.8 million girls enrolled in schools and seminaries. He also addressed the exclusion of female journalists from an earlier briefing as a "technical issue."
The timing of the clashes – erupting as Muttaqi dined with Indian officials – has fueled Pakistani suspicions of a "Kabul-Delhi nexus" aimed at encircling Islamabad. Social media buzzed with unverified videos of artillery duels, including Pakistani strikes on Taliban forts in Barmal and Nangarhar, and Afghan deployments of tanks in Kunar. Pro-Pakistan accounts accused India of scripting the aggression, while Afghan users decried Pakistani "cowardice." Independent verification remains elusive; Anadolu Agency noted it could not confirm social media footage's authenticity.
Broader regional implications loom large. The two main border crossings – Torkham in the north and Chaman in the south – remain closed, stranding hundreds of trucks laden with goods and exacerbating Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis, where 23 million people face acute food insecurity per UN estimates. Trade, valued at $2.5 billion annually pre-2021, has plummeted, with Pakistan's recent deportations of over 80,000 Afghan refugees adding fuel to the fire. Iran urged restraint Sunday, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling for dialogue to prevent spillover. China and Russia, key Taliban backers, have stayed mum, though Moscow's recent hosting of regional talks signals wariness of escalation.
For India, the visit represents a strategic pivot. Long wary of Pakistani influence in Kabul, New Delhi has ramped up aid – including earthquake relief via Iran's Chabahar port – and now eyes reopening its full embassy in Kabul, shuttered since 2021. Muttaqi pledged safeguards for Indian interests, vowing Afghan soil "will not be used against India." Yet, as Brahma Chellaney noted on X, this "cautious reset" risks entangling India in the Afghan-Pakistani quagmire, potentially shifting South Asian power dynamics.
As dawn broke Sunday over the Hindu Kush, sporadic firing continued, with no ceasefire in sight. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the "provocations" and promised a "befitting reply," evoking memories of the Pahalgam crisis. Afghan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi echoed the defiance, labeling Pakistan's actions a "game of fire and blood." With nuclear-armed neighbors on edge and a fragile regional balance at stake, the world watches warily. Diplomatic backchannels, if activated, could yet avert catastrophe – but history suggests the Durand Line's ghosts die hard.
