Las skirmishes in the disputed border In recent months they have become a “open war” between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Friday night, Islamabad has attacked Afghan territory, including important cities such as Kabul, Kandahar and positions of Taliban government -in power since 2021-. Below, several keys clarify the origen and the evolution of the conflict. The deceased are counted by tens in both sides.
Los attacks pakistanis against Kabul and Kandahar are the most recent and important in a series of clashes between both nations, despite the ceasefire in October 2025 that has proven fragile. They blame each other for the start of the escalation, even though it was Pakistan that, in the mouth of one of itss ministers, has spoken of open war. They have been accusing each other of starting the skirmishes, especially in the area of the border they dispute, known as the ‘Durand line’.
The ‘Durand’ Line is the frontera that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was drawn in 1893 during the British colonial period Sir Mortimer Durandthen an official of the British Empire, through an agreement with the Afghan emir Abdur Rahman Khan. At the time, the area was part of British India (before the creation of Pakistan in 1947). With a length of 2,640 kilometers, it divides territories historically inhabited by Pashtun and Baloch ethnic groups. Afghanistan has historically questioned the legitimacy of the agreement, arguing that it was imposed by colonial pressure. The area has been the scene of historic tensions and confrontations. It is the most sensitive point between the relations of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Beyond your historical distancinghe recent conflict between the two countries that has ended the episode of open war began in early October 2025, when Pakistan bombed Kabulthe Afghan capital. The objective of that attack was the Pakistani Taliban leaderswho since the victory of the Afghan Taliban, in August 2021, have been hiding and sheltering on the soil of the Central Asian country. That attack of Pakistan against the Afghan capital triggered a response from Afghanistan on the border with its southern neighbor.
Although the two are independent groups, the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban share their salafist and jihadist ideology and, in fact, an origin story: the Taliban of Afghanistan – talib, in Arabic, means student – were born within Pakistan itself, in the ultraconservative madrassas from the north of the country during the 70s and 80s, where the Pakistani Taliban was also born years later, to its northern neighbors. Since its creation, the Afghan Taliban, already in Afghanistan, began its fight, first against the Soviet Union and then against USA since 2001. Since 2021, with the Afghan Taliban restored to power in Kabul, the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban has passed to Afghan territory. The Government of the Central Asian country claims not to give them protection or allow them to carry out foreign attacks.
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