Taliban blames Pakistan for airstrikes that kill 3 people in eastern Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Airstrikes that Afghanistan’s Taliban blamed on neighboring Pakistan struck two eastern provinces of the country, killing at least three people, wounding seven others and damaging homes, officials and witnesses said Thursday.

The Taliban foreign ministry decried the strikes that took place late Wednesday in Nangarhar and Khost provinces, calling them a “provocative act” by Pakistan and summoning the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul.

Neither the Pakistani government nor the military commented on the alleged strikes.

Kabul previously has accused Pakistan of launching airstrikes in Afghanistan against suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group banned in Pakistan and blamed for some of that country’s deadliest terrorist attacks.

In Nangarhar’s Shinwari district, members of a family whose house was reduced to rubble sifted through the debris to try to recover what they could.

“They dropped the first big bomb on my house. My house was completely destroyed,” said Shah Sawar, a resident of Nangarhar’s Shinwari district. “First I pulled a child out of the rubble, then I pulled four children and a woman out.”

Nangarhar’s deputy governor, Maulvi Azizullah Mustafa, said that the strikes were fired by Pakistani drones. The Taliban foreign ministry said three people were killed and seven wounded in Nangarhar and Khost.

Kabul in December 2024 accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes against suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban in Paktika province. Pakistan also did not acknowledge those strikes at the time. Kabul claimed hitting several points inside Pakistan in retaliation.

The latest violence comes a week after top diplomats from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan met in Kabul and pledged closer cooperation against terrorism. It also came three months after Pakistan and Afghanistan upgraded their diplomatic ties to improve bilateral relations.

However, relations between Islamabad and Kabul have remained tense since 2021, when the Afghan Taliban seized power, mainly over Kabul’s alleged support of the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in Pakistan in recent years.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate but closely allied to the Afghan Taliban. Kabul denies, saying it does not allow anyone to use its soil against another country.