Pakistan says it intercepted four drones fired from Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban says they have launched air strikes on Pakistani territory, as Islamabad said its forces had intercepted four rudimentary drones in the southern province of Balochistan.

The latest escalation in the months of conflict between the neighbours came after the Taliban government vowed a response to deadly Pakistani air attacks on eastern Afghanistan earlier in the week.

Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday that Afghan Taliban forces had “launched four rudimentary drones across the border in Balochistan … the hostile aerial platforms were immediately picked up by Pakistan’s robust air defence network”.

“If the Afghan Taliban continue to provoke Pakistan, they would receive a befitting response which would cost them heavily,” it added.

The Afghan defence ministry posted on X that it had carried out “air strikes” in Balochistan and northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that it said caused casualties among members of an ISIL (ISIS) affiliate.

The Taliban’s military does not have fighter jets and lacks a fully functional air force, but it has used small drones in fighting with Pakistan, targeting areas primarily in the border regions.

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have been fraught since 2021, when the Taliban took power in Kabul. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out air attacks inside Afghan territory.

After a deadly weekend attack in Karachi, Pakistan carried out attacks in eastern Afghanistan that killed dozens of people. Islamabad said it targeted fighters, but the Afghan government said there were at least 36 civilian casualties.

The months of conflict centre around Islamabad’s accusations that the Taliban government shelters armed groups behind attacks in Pakistan, particularly the Pakistan Taliban (known by the acronym TTP), which has waged a violent campaign against Pakistan for years.

Afghan officials deny the allegations and say that Pakistan harbours hostile groups and does not respect its sovereignty.