15 outposts captured, 40 Pakistani soldiers killed: Afghan Taliban

The Afghanistan government late on Thursday said it had captured 15 Pakistani military outposts killed 40 Pak soldiers in a large-scale border offensive, describing the operation as retaliation for recent Pakistani air strikes on Afghan territory, as reported by TOLOnews.

Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan forces had inflicted significant losses during the clashes along the disputed Durand Line. “Several soldiers have been killed, and a number of them have been caught alive,” he wrote on X. He added that “the number of posts captured from the enemy has reached 15, multiple soldiers have been killed while some have also been taken alive.”

Afghanistan’s military corps in the east reported that “heavy clashes” began on Thursday night in retaliation for Pakistani air strikes earlier in the week, as reported by news agency AP. A military spokesman said Afghan forces in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces had launched “heavy attacks on Pakistani outposts”. Wahidullah Mohammadi, spokesman for the military in eastern Afghanistan, said: “So far, there are no casualties on Afghan side.”

Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, confirmed that “15 outposts have been captured” by Afghan forces.

Islamabad, however, accused Afghanistan of initiating the confrontation. Pakistan’s information ministry said Afghan forces had “opened unprovoked fire on multiple locations” across the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, adding the action was “being met with immediate, and effective response”.

The latest escalation follows Pakistani military strikes along the border with Afghanistan on Sunday. Pakistan’s military said it had killed at least 70 militants in those operations.

Kabul rejected that claim, insisting that the air raids had instead killed dozens of civilians, including women and children.