Pakistani Airstrikes Kill 36 Civilians and Wound 163 in Eastern Afghanistan, Taliban Officials Say

Pakistani airstrikes killed at least 36 civilians and wounded 163 others in eastern Afghanistan overnight, according to Taliban authorities on Monday, who accused Islamabad of deliberately targeting residential neighborhoods in a wave of cross-border attacks.

The strikes, which reportedly occurred late Sunday and continued into the early hours of Monday, hit multiple locations across the provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar, all of which border Pakistan’s tribal districts. Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the raids struck civilian homes with “heavy ordnance,” causing widespread destruction and panic among local populations.

In the most devastating incident, Pakistani aircraft bombed a house in Mandokhail village, located in the Chamkani district of Paktia province, killing an elderly man and a child, according to Fitrat. He further stated that a second strike targeted villagers who had rushed to the scene to rescue survivors, resulting in 28 additional deaths and 158 injuries. “These were not military targets they were families and volunteers,” Fitrat said in a statement.

In a separate attack, six civilians most of them women and children were killed when a house in Walust village, within the Giyan district of Paktika province, was directly hit. In Kunar’s Manogai district, another residential structure was completely destroyed, though no casualties were reported in that particular strike. The Taliban claimed that three homes were levelled entirely across the affected regions.

Pakistan’s military and foreign ministry have not yet issued an official response to the allegations. However, the strikes come just one day after a suicide bombing targeted a Pakistan Rangers compound in Karachi, killing three Pakistani security personnel and injuring several others. In the wake of that attack, Pakistan announced a series of intelligence-led operations along its western frontier, claiming to have killed dozens of suspected militants in border regions.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration have escalated sharply over the past two years. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of sheltering fighters from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) an umbrella group of militant factions and allowing them to use Afghan soil to plan and execute attacks inside Pakistan. The TTP, which shares ideological ties with the Afghan Taliban, has stepped up its insurgency since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, complicating Pakistan’s efforts to secure its border.

The Taliban government has consistently denied these allegations, maintaining that Afghanistan’s territory will not be used to threaten any other nation. However, cross-border skirmishes, artillery exchanges, and mutual recriminations have become increasingly common, undermining fragile diplomatic channels and raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

The latest civilian casualties have drawn condemnation from human rights groups and calls for an independent investigation into the airstrikes. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and to uphold international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure.

As of Monday evening, no international power has formally weighed in on the incident, but analysts warn that continued military escalation could further destabilize an already volatile region, displacing thousands and deepening the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where millions already face food insecurity and economic collapse.

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