Dozens of civilians reported killed in Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan

The Pakistani military launched airstrikes in Afghanistan, killing dozens of civilians including women and children, according to Afghan government officials.

Islamabad said the operation targeted "camps and hideouts" of armed groups. The incident marks a significant escalation in tensions between the two neighboring nations.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harboring armed groups that launch attacks into its territory. The Taliban government in Kabul has repeatedly denied those allegations.

Islamabad’s decision to launch airstrikes inside Afghan territory represents a high-stakes escalation in an already volatile bilateral relationship, signaling a collapse of strategic patience within the Pakistani security establishment. The military action underscores Islamabad’s growing frustration with what it perceives as the Taliban’s persistent failure to neutralize the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or prevent the group from using Afghan soil as a safe haven for cross-border militancy.

By opting for unilateral kinetic action—compounded by reports of civilian casualties—Pakistan has invited a potential cycle of retribution that threatens to further destabilize an already fragile regional security architecture. For the Taliban administration, the strikes constitute a direct affront to their national sovereignty and a public challenge to their claims of territorial control. The nature of Kabul’s counter-response will be a decisive factor in shaping the region’s security trajectory in the near term.

More broadly, the incident highlights a shifting geopolitical paradigm in the vacuum left by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Regional powers are increasingly demonstrating a readiness to bypass diplomatic norms in favor of unilateral force to secure their immediate security interests, often with little regard for humanitarian or diplomatic consequences. This trend points to a worrying trend lines: a future characterized by intensified cross-border skirmishes and the proliferation of proxy conflicts across the region.