VIDEO Pakistan bombed Kabul and major cities in Afghanistan overnight: “Now it's open war between us and you”
Pakistan bombed Taliban government targets in major Afghan cities overnight, officials from both countries said on Friday, and Pakistan's defense minister said the conflict had become an “open war”.
Pakistani security sources said the attacks involved air and ground strikes against Taliban posts, headquarters and ammunition depots in several sectors along the border.
Both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, presenting vastly different figures that could not be independently verified, Reuters notes
“Now It's Open War”
“Our patience has run out. Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan),” Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Friday.
The attacks risk turning into a protracted conflict along the 2,600 km border, following a long-standing dispute over Islamabad's accusations that the regime in Kabul is harboring militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban denied the allegations and said Pakistan's security was an internal matter.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces carried out airstrikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.
WATCH: Pakistan's military released footage showing airstrikes targeting multiple locations across Afghan provinces.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes hit defensive positions belonging to the Taliban in Kabul, Paktia, and Kandahar. pic.twitter.com/BuVUQGslFK
— Mintel World (@mintelworld) February 27, 2026
A video shared by Pakistani security officials showed nighttime flashes of gunfire along the border and heavy artillery fire could be heard.
A video of the attacks on Kabul showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from two places and a massive fire in one part of the capital Kabul.
Pakistan state-run media has now confirmed that the Pakistani Air Force carried out a number of strikes tonight against Taliban military sites within the capital of Kabul and several other areas across Afghanistan, as part of Operation Ghazab Lil Haq. During the operation,… pic.twitter.com/PCJswbA3WA
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 26, 2026
Another video showed a burning building, which officials said was the Taliban headquarters in Paktia province.
Pakistan and Afghanistan each say they have inflicted heavy casualties
“Pakistani counter-attacks against targets in Afghanistan continue,” Pakistani government spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said in a post on X, describing the action as a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks.”
Reuters witnesses in Kabul said many ambulance sirens were heard after loud explosions and the sound of planes.
Zaidi said 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded, 27 posts destroyed and nine captured.
Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 19 posts captured, while eight Taliban fighters were killed, 11 wounded and 13 civilians injured in Nangarhar province.
“High alert” in Pakistan
Pakistan has been on high security alert since launching airstrikes earlier this week that Islamabad said targeted Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) (Pakistani Taliban) camps and Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan.
Kabul said Pakistani strikes killed 13 civilians and reiterated it does not allow militants to operate from its territory. The Taliban also warned that they would respond strongly.
A state-run news agency in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, Bakhtar News Agency, shared an image of what it described as a battalion of suicide bombers and quoted an Afghan security source as saying they were equipped with explosive vests and booby-traps and were ready to strike key targets.
Pakistani officials have said in recent days that they fear an escalation of militant attacks in urban centers.
Clashes erupted along the border late Thursday after the Taliban launched what they described as retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations. Both sides claimed to have destroyed border posts during the fighting.
