Pakistan’s defence minister has said that the country is in an “open war” with neighbouring Afghanistan, after both nations launched strikes overnight.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Islamabad’s patience had run out as tensions escalated, with casualties reported on both sides.
“Our cup of patience has overflowed,” he said in a social media post. “Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan).”
He alleged the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India”, gathered militants from around the world and begun “exporting terrorism”.
There has been no reaction from Afghan government officials to Mr Asif’s comments.
Pakistan carried out strikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and two other Afghan provinces overnight, Afghanistan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, just hours after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan.
Security sources in Pakistan said the strikes involved air and ground strikes against Taliban posts, headquarters and ammunition depots along the border.
A Reuters news agency witness in Kabul said many ambulance sirens could be heard following a series of loud blasts.
Both sides reported heavy losses, issuing sharply differing figures that have not been independently verified.
Cross-border battles have intensified following months of tensions and skirmishes between the two nations.
The escalation threatens a fragile ceasefire along the 1,615-mile border and deepens a dispute over Islamabad’s claim that Kabul harbours Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants – an accusation the Taliban deny.
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