When the chickens come home to roost: Pakistan versus the Taliban
An official with Pakistan’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MoIB) took to X to announce Pakistan’s response to the Taliban. They claimed that the Taliban attacked them along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and that Pakistan provided an immediate and effective response. Pakistan also accused the Taliban of allowing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to shelter in Afghanistan. The latter is accused of conducting attacks inside Pakistan.
From Fox News:
Pakistan’s defense minister declared an “open war” with Afghanistan on Friday after the two sides exchanged heavy fire along their shared border on Thursday, according to multiple reports.
Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said in a post on X that Pakistan had hoped the Taliban would bring stability after NATO’s withdrawal, but instead accused the group of turning Afghanistan “into a colony of India” and “exporting terrorism.”
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said.
The clashes came after the Taliban said it launched retaliatory strikes on Pakistani military positions, while Islamabad said it was responding to unprovoked fire in the area.
Reuters reported that both forces clashed for more than two hours along their roughly 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile) border, threatening a ceasefire that had been agreed to in 2025 after fighting.
Thursday’s flare-up came after Pakistani forces carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan earlier this week, with Taliban officials saying the strikes killed at least 18 people, Reuters reported Feb. 24.
Pakistan said it targeted militant hideouts and rejected claims that civilians were targeted.
The Taliban described an “extensive” military operation against Pakistani army positions in response to the strikes.
“In response to repeated provocations, extensive preemptive operations have been launched against Pakistani military positions along the Durand Line,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X.
Additional Reading:
Bussey, E., & Sinkewicz, M. (2026, February 26). Pakistan declares ‘open war’ on Afghanistan in response to Taliban’s retaliatory strikes. Fox News. Link.
Category: Taliban, Terror War
The “Great Satan” unass’s the AO and there back to business as usual.
I’ll add this to the long list of things I care nothing about. Might even move it to the top.
Yeah, I checked, and my “give-a-damn” is definitely busted..
They cannot possibly kill enough of each other.
But I sincerely wish them both – within extremely narrow parameters – overwhelming success.
So how exactly do you perform a Battle Damage Assessment in Afghanistan?
Pakistani General is examining aerial photographs of the area bombed and remarked “Excellent work, gentleman, you left them nothing but a pile of rubble.”
Adjutant responds “General, those are photos of the area before we launched the assault.”