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Reuters

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Friday they were willing to negotiate after Pakistan ⁠bombed their forces in major cities and said the allies-turned-foes were in “open war”.
Pakistan struck the Afghan capital Kabul, the city of Kandahar, where Taliban leaders were based, and other towns, a Taliban spokesman said. The attacks were its first directly targeting Afghanistan’s government over allegations it harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said there were civilian casualties on Friday but did not provide details. In Kabul, thick plumes of black smoke rose from two sites. Witnesses said many ambulance sirens could ‌be heard following loud blasts and the sound of jets on Friday.
Kabul taxi driver Tamim said an ammunition depot was hit and explosions continued inside after the strikes as stored ordnance ignited.
“The plane came and dropped two bombs, then flew away again. After that, we heard explosions,” said Tamim, who was asleep when the strikes hit. “Everyone, in panic, ran down from the second floor of the house.”
Security sources in Pakistan said the strikes involved air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts in response to Afghan attacks on Thursday.
The latest violence erupted after Pakistan’s air strikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered Afghan retaliatory attacks along the border on Thursday, escalating long-simmering tensions over Pakistan’s claim that Afghanistan shelters Pakistani Taliban militants. Afghanistan denies this.

The Taliban said on Friday that its leaders were ready to negotiate with Pakistan.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has always tried to resolve issues through dialogue, and now also we want to resolve this matter through dialogue,” Mujahid said.
Mujahid said Pakistani strikes hit parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia on Thursday night, and on Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Laghman on Friday.
That followed Afghan drone strikes ‌that began late on Thursday on Pakistani military positions and installations in northwest Pakistan along their shared border.
Pakistani officials said the country’s strikes killed 274 Taliban officials and militants, while Afghanistan said it killed 55 Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistan confirmed that 12 of its own soldiers were killed, and Afghanistan said it had lost 13 Taliban fighters.
For years, Islamabad has blamed Afghanistan for attacks inside Pakistan aimed at overthrowing the government, claiming the Taliban shelter Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters.

According to Islamabad, TTP leaders operate from Afghan territory and use it as ⁠a safe haven to plan cross-border assaults. While the United Nations has said the TTP and the Taliban in Afghanistan are linked, the Kabul government denies this and argues Pakistan is deflecting blame for its own security failures.
In New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was “deeply concerned by the ‌escalation of violence” between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the impact that was having on civilian populations, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“He calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and he reiterates his call on the parties to resolve any differences through diplomacy,” Dujarric said. The United States on Friday expressed support for Pakistan.
“The ‌United ‌States supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against attacks from the Taliban, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“The Taliban have consistently failed to uphold their counterterrorism commitments, allowing violence to destabilise the region while terrorist ‌groups use Afghanistan as a launching pad for their heinous attacks.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Saturday called for the countries to de-escalate and engage in dialogue.
“The EU reiterates that Afghan territory must not be used to threaten or attack ‌other countries and calls on the Afghan de facto authorities to take effective action against all terrorist groups operating in or from Afghanistan,” Kallas said in a statement.

The strikes threatened to unleash a protracted conflict along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you [Afghanistan],” Pakistani ⁠Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Friday.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry warned that any new Taliban provocations, or attempts by any “terrorist group” to target Pakistanis, would be met with a “measured, decisive and befitting response”. Pakistan is nuclear-armed, and its military capabilities are vastly ⁠superior to those of Afghanistan. However, the Taliban are adept at guerrilla warfare, hardened by decades of fighting with US-led forces, before returning to power in 2021.


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Pakistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban open to talks with Pakistan as ‘open war’ continues

An Afghan security force member takes part in a military operation against Pakistan in Khost, Afghanistan, on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, attends a press conference in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday, following a surge in cross-border tensions with Pakistan. Photo: Reuters

A satellite image of Kabul on Friday after Pakistani strikes against Afghanistan. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/handout via Reuters

Pakistani security officials stationed at a checkpoint in Islamabad on Friday after Pakistan launched strikes on Kabul and Kandahar. Photo: EPA

Once close allies, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban are now trading fire. What went wrong?

Taliban soldiers sit next to an anti-aircraft gun while on lookout for Pakistan’s fighter jets in Afghanistan’s Khost province on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Pakistani soldiers attend the funeral of two servicemen killed in an operation against suspected militants near the Afghan border in Waziristan on Friday. Photo: EPA

Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghan Taliban after strikes on Kabul, Kandahar

Taliban security personnel stand guard near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises following what Pakistani and Taliban officials say are Pakistani strikes in Kabul in this still image taken from video released on Friday. Photo: Pakistani security forces/Reuters

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Chaman is deserted on Friday, after overnight cross-border fighting between the two countries. Photo: AFP

A Pakistani girl injured in overnight cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan receives treatment at a hospital in Bajaur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday. Photo: AFP

Violence in Balochistan rages on as Pakistan rules out talks with insurgents

Site of a suspected separatist attack in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, Pakistan, on Monday. Photo: EPA

Pakistani security officials check people and vehicles at a checkpoint in Quetta on Monday. Photo: EPA

A Pakistani villager walks on the cracks of the dry Hanna lake in Urak Valley, Balochistan in October 2018. Photo: AFP

Pakistani security officials stand guard as security has been intensified following militants' coordinated attacks in Quetta this week. Photo: EPA

The Gwadar port in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. Image: SCMP

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The attacks by Pakistan come as it continues to allege that the Taliban harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government


The attacks by Pakistan come as it continues to allege that the Taliban harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government.


Afghanistan’s Taliban open to talks with Pakistan as ‘open war’ continues

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The attacks by Pakistan come as it continues to allege that the Taliban harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government

The attacks by Pakistan come as it continues to allege that the Taliban harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government