Afghanistan and Pakistan are clashing openly again over a militant group that has attacked Pakistani security forces and civilians across their shared border.
Pakistan launched airstrikes across Afghanistan on Friday that hit Kabul, the capital, and Kandahar, the southern city that is home to the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Months of tension and border skirmishes preceded the airstrikes on Friday. Hours before the strikes, Afghan troops attacked Pakistani border positions in what Afghanistan said was retaliation for Pakistani strikes earlier in the week.
How big were the latest attacks?
The attacks on Afghanistan’s two largest cities were the heaviest launched by Pakistan since it agreed to a cease-fire with the Taliban government in October, after weeks of fighting that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.
The New York Times could not immediately confirm a death toll in either country from the latest attacks. Ammunition depots in Kabul and Kandahar were bombed. The province of Paktia, near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, was also hit by the airstrikes.
Why are they fighting?
Pakistan has accused the Taliban government in Afghanistan of harboring the militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan says the Taliban has allowed the group to train and launch attacks from within Afghanistan.
The militant group has relentlessly attacked Pakistani security forces in recent years, including with a suicide bombing in November that killed a dozen people at a courthouse in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
The Taliban has denied hosting militant groups, even as attacks by Pakistani Taliban fighters have surged since it took power in Afghanistan in 2021. Some Afghan officials have privately acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban’s presence in their country.
Were the Taliban and Pakistan always enemies?
No. Pakistan helped create the Afghan Taliban in the early 1990s, and many Taliban leaders hid in Pakistan during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Throughout the two-decade American-led war in Afghanistan, U.S. officials pressed Pakistan to clamp down on Afghan Taliban militants inside its borders.
The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. forces hastily withdrew from the country. Since then the Taliban government’s relations with Pakistan have soured over its close connections with the Pakistani Taliban, which formed from the remnants of militant groups after a crackdown by the Pakistani military.
Pakistan has complained that Afghanistan has not cracked down on the group. While the two entities are distinct, the Afghan Taliban share deep ties with the Pakistani Taliban, which supplied fighters during the Afghan militants’ war against U.S. and NATO forces.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
The post What to Know About the Clashes Between Pakistan and Afghanistan appeared first on New York Times.
