Tensions are rising between the two neighboring countries in South Asia. At least ten people, including nine children, were killed overnight Monday to Tuesday as a result of Pakistani attacks in Afghanistan, said Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The latter assured this Tuesday morning that he would reply “just in time” to Pakistani attacks carried out in the Khost, Kunar and Paktika border areas, in the eastern part of the country.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, tense since the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul in 2021, have recently deteriorated over security and migration issues. The deadly attack also came a day after a suicide attack on the headquarters of Pakistani security forces in a province bordering Afghanistan, which was not immediately claimed. The perpetrator of this attack “will be discovered and punished”assured Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reiterating his wishes “to eradicate terrorism”, while state television channel PTV reported that it believed the attackers were the perpetrators “Afghan citizen”.
On November 11, another attack in front of a court in Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan) left twelve people dead and around ten people injured. Claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, which shares the same ideology as the Taliban after regaining power in Kabul, Islamabad then accused a “terrorist cell” has occurred “led and guided every step of the way by the Afghanistan-based high command.”
The two countries engaged in an armed confrontation of rare intensity in October, resulting in the deaths of around 70 people. The fighting ended with a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Türkiye. A fragile ceasefire with unclear contours, which did not produce a lasting agreement. The security issue is an important point: on the one hand, Pakistan blames its neighbor, Afghanistan “to take refuge” group “terrorist”, on the other hand, Kabul, which denies it, accuses Islamabad of harboring armed groups hostile to Islamabad.
The 2,600-kilometer border has been closed since October 12, blocking vital bilateral trade.
