in the main cities of Afghanistan, as officials from both countries have confirmed to local and international media. The Pakistani Defense Minister has directly described the conflict as an “open war.”
Security sources in Pakistan explained to the agency that the barrage has consisted of air-to-ground missile attacks against Islamist offices and military posts in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, as well as ground clashes in multiple sectors along the border between the two Islamic nations.
The Taliban, for their part, have confirmed that they have launched what they describe as “retaliatory attacks” against Pakistani military installations.
Both parties have reported losses, but the figures for both material and personal damage that emerge at this time are very disparate and difficult to confirm by independent sources, due to the inaccessibility of the places and the security imposed by the two rivals.
“Our patience has run out. Now it is an open war between us and you (Afghanistan),” Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif emphasized this Friday, predicting more attacks in the coming hours. However, right now the situation is one of tense calm, according to agencies such as EFE, which confirms the opening of markets and jobs in the midst of the tension.
Precarious ceasefire
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have now been strained by a long-running dispute over Pakistan’s accusation that Afghanistan harbors militants carrying out attacks across the border. The Taliban have denied this accusation and affirm that Pakistan’s security is an internal problem, in which they do not interfere.
There were armed clashes on the common border, which left dozens dead. Faced with this peak of tension, negotiations facilitated by Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were activated, which ended up imposing calm. Hostilities ceased and a ceasefire was established.
It was known to be fragile and, in fact, it has been violated in recent months, but now the difference is that one of the parties speaks of “open war.” It is still unknown if this is a verbal escalation or, really, a new scenario.
Smoke rises after Pakistani attacks on Kabul, Afghanistan, in a screenshot taken from a video published on February 27, 2026 by Islamabad forces.
Where does the fight come from?
To understand what is happening on February 27, 2026, we have to look back. Pakistan initially celebrated the return to power of the Taliban in 2021, after a by international forces, starting with the United States. Then, Prime Minister Imran Khan (who was in office between 2018 and 2022) stated that Afghans had “broken the chains of slavery”, a very powerful statement against the dynamics of recent years, after the overthrow of the Islamist regime, which commanded the country from 1996 to 2001.
But Islamabad soon discovered that the Taliban were not as cooperative as their president had hoped, and sensitivity and applause changed. Islamabad now claims, with the new Islamist power fully established, that the leaders of the militant group (TTP) and many of its fighters are based in Afghanistan and that armed insurgents also use Afghanistan as a refuge.
But who are they and what do these militiamen want? They seek, according to their own statements, the independence of the province of , in the southwest of Pakistan. The TTP is internationally sanctioned as terrorist, explains the United Nations, as an entity associated with Al Qaeda and “participating in the financing, planning, facilitation, preparation or commission of acts or activities carried out” by the group that one day led, “or carried out in or under its name, together with it or in its support”, for “supplying, selling or transferring weapons and supplies to” Al Qaeda, “recruiting for” it or “providing other support to acts or activities carried out by” her.
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as “the Pakistani Taliban”, is an alliance of very diverse militant groups that came together in 2007, after Pakistan launched military operations against Al Qaeda-related militants in the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It is based on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and was formed under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud. After his death in August 2009, Hakimullah Mehsud became the leader.
“The stated objective of the TTP is to overthrow the elected Government of Pakistan to establish an emirate based on its interpretation of Islamic law. To this end, the TTP has sought to destabilize Pakistan through direct attacks against the Pakistani military and assassinations of politicians,” states the Security Council.
Militancy has increased every year since 2022: according to some estimates cited by the UN, it has between 30,000 and 35,000 members. Their activity has grown proportionately, with an increase in attacks by the TTP and Baloch insurgents, according to , a global monitoring organization.
The TTP has attacked everything: markets, mosques, airports, military bases, police stations… And it has also conquered territory, mainly along the border with Afghanistan, but also inside Pakistan, including the Swat Valley. The group was behind the 2012 attack on the then-student, who received the Nobel Peace Prize two years later.
This group also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against US-led forces in Afghanistan and hosted Afghan fighters in Pakistan. That is why military operations have been launched against the TTP on its own territory, with limited success so far. An offensive that ended in 2016 drastically reduced attacks until a few years ago, that is. But they have revived.
Kabul, for its part, has repeatedly denied allowing militants to use Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban claim that Pakistan is harboring fighters from their enemy, the Islamic State, a charge Islamabad denies.
Islamabad claims that the ceasefire did not hold for long due to continued militant attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan, and that there have since been repeated clashes and border closures that have disrupted trade and movement along the rugged border.
View of the destruction caused by airstrikes by Pakistani aircraft in Nangarhar, eastern and southeastern Afghanistan, on February 22, 2026.
The reason for the latest confrontations
The day before last weekend’s attacks, Pakistani security sources claimed to have “irrefutable evidence” that militants in Afghanistan were behind a recent wave of attacks and suicide bombings against the Pakistani military and police.
Those sources listed seven planned or successful attacks by militants since late 2024 that they claimed were related to Afghanistan.
An attack last week, which killed 11 security personnel and two civilians in the Bajaur district, was carried out by an Afghan national, according to Pakistani security sources. This attack was claimed by the TTP.
What may come
According to the common wisdom among analysts, Pakistan is likely to intensify its military campaign these days, while Kabul’s retaliation could consist of raids on border posts and more cross-border guerrilla attacks against security forces.
In theory, there is a great mismatch between the military capabilities of both sides. With 172,000 troops, the Taliban represents less than a third of Pakistan’s personnel, Reuters recalls. The Taliban possess at least six planes and 23 helicopters, but their status is unknown and they lack fighter jets or an effective air force. Their forces are not the same, of course, with Afghanistan also being in a brutal crisis, but we must not forget that five years ago they achieved the reconquest.
Pakistan’s armed forces have more than 600,000 active personnel, more than 6,000 armored fighting vehicles and more than 400 combat aircraft, according to 2025 data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The country too, an incomparable deterrent.
