KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Monday that their militaries had targeted each other’s posts across the border as their fighting entered a fifth day, fuelling instability in a region rocked by US–Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation.
The intensity of the clashes, however, appeared to be lower than when it began although there were no signs that the allies-turned-foes were seeking to step back and make peace. The direct fighting between the South Asian neighbours who share a 2,600-km (1,615-mile) border is the heaviest in years.
Bagram Air Base targeted
On Monday, the Taliban defence ministry said that Afghan forces targeted and destroyed a Pakistani military armoured tank on the frontier in Paktika province after it had fired shells indiscriminately toward Afghanistan.
READ MORE: Responded effectively to Afghan aggression: Tarar
Bagram air base, located north of Kabul, was the largest US military base in Afghanistan and once the centrepiece of US and NATO military operations during the 20-year war.
No progress on peace moves
Pakistani security sources said that their air strikes and ground attacks were ongoing and Pakistani troops had destroyed ammunition depots in Khost and Jalalabad, as well as a drone storage site in Jalalabad, among other targets.
Pakistani forces had so far killed 435 Afghan troops, destroyed 188 posts and captured another 31 posts, Pakistani Information Minister Attaulla Tarar said in a post on X.
Pakistan had also destroyed 188 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns and targeted 51 locations by air, he said.
Since the fighting began, both sides have claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on the other — figures which Reuters has been unable to verify. Friendly countries such as Qatar last week said they were willing to mediate and end the fighting.
The Afghan Taliban too had said it was willing to negotiate but there has been no movement, especially with the Gulf region getting caught in its own conflict.
“Pakistan has had only one ask, and that’s that Afghan soil shouldn’t be used against Pakistan,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told diplomats at a briefing in Islamabad on Monday, in comments aired by state broadcaster PTV. “This is the only issue we have, as long as it is settled, we have no other issue with Afghanistan.”
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