Cross‑border strikes between Pakistan and Afghanistan entered a ninth day as both sides claimed to have killed dozens of the other’s troops. A suicide car bomb in North Waziristan killed one civilian and wounded 18. The U.N. says the fighting has displaced about 115,000 people in Afghanistan and roughly 3,000 in Pakistan, while casualty claims from Kabul and Islamabad remain widely divergent and unverified.
Deadliest Pakistan‑Afghanistan Cross‑Border Fighting Enters Ninth Day as Both Sides Claim Dozens Killed
Afghan Taliban soldiers look toward the Pakistani side, on the Afghan side of the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged multiple strikes across their shared frontier on Friday, with both governments claiming to have inflicted heavy casualties in the deadliest bout of fighting between the neighbors to date. Pakistan has publicly described the confrontation as an “open war.”
Fighting Continues Despite Calls For Restraint
Repeated international appeals for calm have so far failed to halt the violence, which entered its ninth day with clashes reported across several border sectors. The border region, where militant groups including al‑Qaida and Islamic State also operate, remains largely inaccessible to independent reporters; The Associated Press could not verify the conflicting casualty figures.
Local residents examine damages to their house due to mortar shell fired by Afghan forces, at a village in Khyber, a district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering with Afghanistan, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/S.B. Shah)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Suicide Car Bombing In North Waziristan
Also on Friday, a suicide car bomber struck a security post in North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan. Local doctor Mohammad Asif said one civilian was killed and 18 people were wounded, several critically. No group immediately claimed responsibility; Pakistani authorities are likely to suspect the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan, or TTP), which has frequently targeted security forces and civilians in the region.
Mutual Claims And Unverified Casualty Figures
In Kabul, the Taliban‑run Defense Ministry said its forces “destroyed numerous Pakistani military posts” along the border in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Kunar, Paktia and Khost provinces and claimed to have killed dozens of Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani state media reported that the air force and ground troops carried out strikes that inflicted heavy losses on Afghan forces and on TTP militants. Islamabad said operations are ongoing and that its military has “inflicted heavy losses” but provided no independent verification.
Local residents examine damages to their house due to mortar shell fired by Afghan forces, at a village in Khyber, a district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering with Afghanistan, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/S.B. Shah)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Casualty claims have varied sharply: Afghanistan said earlier this week that its forces had killed about 150 Pakistani soldiers since the clashes began while acknowledging 28 Afghan troop deaths. On Friday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X that Pakistan’s military had killed 527 Afghan soldiers. These figures remain unverified.
Humanitarian Impact And Displacement
The U.N. refugee agency said Thursday that the fighting has displaced roughly 115,000 people inside Afghanistan and about 3,000 people in Pakistan. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged an immediate halt to the clashes, warning they are worsening an already dire humanitarian situation; UNAMA reported 56 civilian deaths inside Afghanistan so far.
Local residents remove pieces of mortar shell fired by Afghan forces, which damaged their house at a village in Khyber, a district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering with Afghanistan, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/S.B. Shah)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Diplomacy And The Prospect Of Mediation
It is unclear whether diplomatic outreach will produce a ceasefire. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate a new truce in a call with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim spoke with Afghanistan’s acting prime minister, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. The recent clashes have ended a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey in October and follow talks held in Istanbul.
Note: The border is remote and dangerous for journalists. Independent verification of battlefield claims is not currently possible.
Reporting contributions: Afghan reporting from Kabul. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.
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