Major border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan were sealed over the weekend after intense overnight clashes that both governments blamed on each other — a stark escalation in a relationship already poisoned by mistrust, militancy, and territorial disputes.
The Taliban government in Kabul claimed on Sunday that its forces had killed 58 Pakistani troops in retaliatory operations along the border, while admitting that nine Taliban fighters also died in the fighting. The statement followed reports of heavy exchanges of fire near Torkham and Chaman, the two main transit points between the neighboring countries.
Pakistan, however, rejected the casualty figures, accusing the Taliban of “provocation” and “baseless claims.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad “would not compromise” on its defense and would respond “strongly and effectively” to any violation of its sovereignty.
The eruption of violence came days after explosions were reported in Kabul and southeastern Afghanistan — incidents that Taliban officials claimed were the result of Pakistani airstrikes. Islamabad has not confirmed or denied those allegations.
The fighting broke out late Saturday in multiple districts along the volatile border separating Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kandahar regions.
Witnesses and local officials said heavy weapons fire lit up the night sky for hours, forcing residents in several frontier towns to flee their homes. By dawn, both the Torkham and Chaman crossings — the lifelines of trade and travel between the two countries — were shut.
“The Torkham border has been completely closed for pedestrian movement and trade,” a senior Pakistani official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Security forces have also pulled out all civilian staff posted at the border, so they are not harmed in case of further firing.”
Another official in Chaman confirmed that the crossing, 800 kilometers to the southwest, was “sealed until further notice.”
Although cross-border skirmishes are not uncommon, the intensity and geographic spread of Saturday’s clashes shocked residents and observers alike. It marked one of the deadliest episodes since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in August 2021.
When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan four years ago, Pakistan’s leadership — particularly within the military establishment — publicly celebrated the end of what it called a “foreign occupation” and privately hoped for a friendlier regime in Kabul.
But the optimism quickly soured. Instead of curbing cross-border militancy, Islamabad found itself facing a resurgent Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — an ideologically aligned but operationally distinct militant group long based in eastern Afghanistan.
Since the U.S. withdrawal, Pakistan has seen an alarming spike in attacks on its security forces, particularly in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. According to the Pakistani military, over 500 people — including 311 troops and 73 police officers — were killed in attacks between January and mid-September this year.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban government of providing shelter and logistical support to the TTP, a charge Kabul denies. Yet, multiple reports by the United Nations and independent observers back Pakistan’s claims, describing TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan’s Kunar, Nuristan, and Paktika provinces.
“Enough is enough,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament last week. “Our patience has run out. We have tried repeatedly to persuade the Afghan authorities to act against the TTP, but they refuse. We cannot allow our soldiers to die while they harbor terrorists across the line.”
The Taliban government insists that Pakistan’s allegations are a cover for its own military aggression. Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s chief spokesman, said at a press conference in Kabul that Saturday’s border clashes were a “defensive response” to Pakistani air raids that targeted Afghan territory days earlier.
“These attacks were a clear violation of our sovereignty,” Mujahid said. “We have shown Pakistan that Afghanistan will defend itself. We do not want war, but we will not tolerate airstrikes or incursions.”
Enayat Khowarazm, spokesman for the Taliban’s Defence Ministry, later described the fighting as a “successful operation” that ended at midnight. Afghan state media hailed the battle as a “victory against aggression.”
Pakistan has not confirmed any aerial operations, but local analysts suggest that if Islamabad did launch strikes, they were likely aimed at TTP camps — a pattern seen in previous years when Pakistan conducted similar cross-border attacks after high-profile militant assaults.
At the heart of the recurring clashes lies a border dispute that predates both nations. The Durand Line, drawn in 1893 by the British colonial administration, sliced through Pashtun tribal lands that stretch across today’s Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier.
After Pakistan’s creation in 1947, Afghanistan refused to recognize the line as an international border, arguing that it divided ethnic Pashtun and Baloch communities. Successive Afghan governments, including the Taliban regime, have upheld that stance.
“The Durand Line was imposed on us,” Taliban Defense Ministry officials said in a statement last year. “It has no legitimacy. We will not recognize it.”
For Pakistan, the border’s legitimacy is non-negotiable. Since 2017, Islamabad has fenced most of the 2,640-kilometer line, erecting concrete posts, barbed wire, and surveillance systems. The Taliban, however, frequently demolish sections of the fence, accusing Pakistan of annexing Afghan land.
Saturday night’s clashes were reportedly sparked by an attempt by Pakistani forces to reinforce positions near a disputed stretch of the border — an act Kabul deemed an incursion.
The closure of the Torkham and Chaman crossings is more than a symbolic gesture; it has immediate and painful consequences.
Both crossings are vital arteries for trade, humanitarian aid, and daily commuters. Thousands of Afghans cross into Pakistan each day for work or medical treatment, while truck convoys carry essential goods — fuel, wheat, and medicine — into Afghanistan.
When the crossings shut down, the impact ripples fast. Truck drivers are stranded for days in scorching conditions. Perishable goods rot. Border towns dependent on the trade grind to a halt.
“The economic cost is devastating,” said Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, a security analyst based in Islamabad. “Each closure not only strangles Afghanistan’s already crippled economy but also deepens resentment among local communities that rely on cross-border commerce.”
The UN estimates that over 70 percent of Afghanistan’s imports come through Pakistan. Any prolonged border shutdown, humanitarian agencies warn, could worsen food insecurity in a country where over 20 million people already face hunger.
The clashes have drawn concern from regional powers that fear renewed instability could spill across South and Central Asia.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar — all of which maintain diplomatic ties with both Kabul and Islamabad — issued statements urging “restraint and dialogue.”
Tehran’s Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply concerned” by the escalation and called on both sides to “avoid steps that could further destabilize the region.” Qatar, which has hosted talks between the Taliban and Western powers in recent years, offered to mediate if tensions continue.
China, a close economic ally of Pakistan and an investor in Afghanistan’s mining sector, has so far remained silent. But analysts note that Beijing has repeatedly expressed alarm over the threat of militant groups using Afghanistan as a base to target Chinese interests in the region.
Pakistan’s security establishment insists that most of its recent losses are linked to the TTP’s expanding footprint in the northwest. The group’s fighters, many of whom were freed from Afghan prisons during the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, have restructured and launched increasingly sophisticated attacks.
The TTP shares the Afghan Taliban’s ideology but operates independently. Its stated goal is to overthrow Pakistan’s government and establish its own version of Islamic rule.
In recent months, the group has targeted army convoys, police checkpoints, and intelligence outposts, particularly in North Waziristan and Bajaur, both bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military claims to have conducted “dozens of successful operations” against the group, but admits that the terrain and cross-border mobility of militants make the fight difficult.
A UN Security Council report released earlier this year noted that the TTP “receives substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities” — a veiled reference to the Taliban administration.
Kabul rejects the claim, insisting it has no control over independent groups operating inside Afghanistan’s rugged eastern mountains.
The current escalation is not isolated. Over the past two years, sporadic gun battles, artillery exchanges, and diplomatic expulsions have become routine along the frontier.
In September 2023, Torkham was closed for nine days after similar clashes, leading to a backlog of thousands of trucks and millions in trade losses. Earlier this year, Pakistan briefly halted the issuance of visas to Afghan nationals following another round of tensions.
“The relationship has become a cycle of accusation and retaliation,” said Michael Kugelman, director of South Asia studies at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Both sides believe they are acting in self-defense, and neither trusts the other’s intentions. That’s a dangerous formula for escalation.”
Pakistan’s leverage over the Taliban has waned sharply since 2021. Despite providing economic aid, border access, and international advocacy for Kabul’s recognition, Islamabad has failed to secure its key demand: a crackdown on the TTP.
For the Taliban, Pakistan’s airstrikes — real or alleged — represent a humiliation they cannot ignore. For Pakistan, the continued presence of anti-state militants in Afghanistan is an existential threat. Each side’s “red line” now collides with the other’s.
Caught between the two states are the borderland communities — Pashtun families who share language, culture, and kinship across the Durand Line. Many say they no longer know which country truly represents them.
“I have cousins in Jalalabad and brothers in Landi Kotal,” said Gul Rahman, a 45-year-old trader stranded at Torkham. “When the border closes, I can’t visit family, I can’t sell my goods, I can’t earn. We are paying the price for politics.”
In Chaman, hundreds of laborers staged protests demanding that authorities reopen the crossing. “People are starving,” one demonstrator told local reporters. “We don’t care about borders. We just want peace.”
The confrontation underscores a broader geopolitical reality: the post-U.S. Afghanistan remains a volatile arena where domestic insecurity in Pakistan, Taliban nationalism in Kabul, and regional rivalries converge.
For the international community, particularly Western powers that once fought the Taliban, the clash is a reminder that Afghanistan’s stability — or lack thereof — continues to shape regional security.
Washington has largely distanced itself from the conflict, focusing instead on counterterrorism from afar. But U.S. officials privately acknowledge concerns that deteriorating Pakistan–Afghanistan relations could strengthen militant networks across the border belt.
“Every time the two governments fight, militant groups benefit,” said a Western diplomat based in Islamabad. “They exploit chaos, move across borders, and regroup. That’s the real danger.”
For now, both sides appear unwilling to back down publicly. Pakistani military sources say “all options remain on the table” if Taliban forces continue to engage in cross-border aggression. Afghan officials, meanwhile, warn that any new airstrikes “will be met with decisive action.”
Regional diplomats are quietly working to defuse the crisis, but trust is in short supply. Years of hostility, unmet promises, and ideological rifts have hardened perceptions on both sides.
Even if the guns fall silent in the coming days, the deeper issues — the TTP’s presence, the Durand Line dispute, and competing definitions of sovereignty — will remain unresolved.
As analyst Ayesha Siddiqa put it, “The Pakistan–Afghanistan relationship is like a fault line running through the mountains. It may lie quiet for a while, but the pressure keeps building. And when it cracks, the whole region feels the tremor.”
By Sunday afternoon, reports from both Kabul and Islamabad suggested that fighting had subsided. No new clashes were reported. But the damage — political and psychological — had already been done.
Trucks sat idle on both sides of the sealed gates. Families searched for missing relatives. Officials traded accusations in press conferences.
At Torkham, a soldier watched over the quiet road that just hours earlier echoed with gunfire. “We are told to defend our land,” he said. “They are told the same. And the border stays closed.”
