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Kabul accuses Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes day after suicide bombers target major security installation on other side of border
Namita SinghTuesday 25 November 2025 08:26 GMTComments
CloseRelated: Afghanistan says 10 killed in Pakistani strikes
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Nine children and a woman were killed after the Pakistani military launched overnight airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost province, the Taliban said on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the de facto Afghan government, Zabihullah Mujahid, alleged that Pakistani jets struck a home in Gerbzwo district around midnight.
“Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of civilian local resident Wilayat Khan, which martyred 9 children and one woman and destroyed their house,” he said on X, sharing pictures purportedly showing the victims. Five of the children were boys, he said, and four girls.
Mujahid added that further raids hit Kunar and Paktika provinces, injuring at least four civilians.
Islamabad did not immediately make a statement.
Kabul’s accusations came a day after a deadly assault on a security installation in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan, killed three security personnel and injured 11.
Police said that two suicide bombers and a gunman tried to storm the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary, the country’s paramilitary police force. One bomber blew himself up at the gate while the second attacker and an armed accomplice were shot dead near a vehicle park, Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmad said.
open image in galleryTaliban soldier guards a border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Gurbuz district of southeast Khost province on 20 October 2025 (AFP via Getty)“The terrorists involved in today's attack were on foot and failed to reach the parade area,” he told the Associated Press. “And a timely response by our forces prevented a much larger tragedy.”
Samples from the suspected bombers are undergoing DNA analysis and investigators are trying to determine their identities and nationalities.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack as a “cowardly act by foreign-backed terrorists”. Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said the response of security personnel had prevented a wider loss of life.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Islamabad frequently blames acts of terrorism on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban, which is ideologically aligned with but operationally distinct from the Taliban that govern Afghanistan.
Authorities allege that the Pakistani Taliban use Afghan territory as a safe haven, an accusation Kabul denies.
As a consequence, tensions have risen sharply this year. In October, soldiers clashed along the border in the worst fighting between the neighbours since the Taliban took back Kabul in 2021.
open image in galleryFile. Policemen assess damaged vehicles after a suicide bombing outside a court in Islamabad on 11 November 2025 (AFP via Getty)A ceasefire was later agreed in Qatar but subsequent negotiations in Turkey for a more lasting arrangement broke down over Islamabad’s insistence that the Taliban deal with anti-Pakistan militant groups on its territory.
The latest escalation comes amid renewed scrutiny of the military balance between the South Asian neighbours. Data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies highlights the gulf between their forces: Pakistan fields 660,000 active personnel, most of them in the army, with a modernising navy and air force supported by Chinese-supplied hardware while the Afghan forces number about 172,000.
Pakistan’s arsenal includes nearly 6,000 armoured fighting vehicles, 4,600 artillery pieces and a fleet of roughly 465 combat aircraft and 260 helicopters. Crucially, it’s also a nuclear-armed state, with an estimated 170 warheads.
Kabul has stated its intention to expand its military to 200,000 personnel. Much of its equipment consists of ageing Soviet vehicles seized after the collapse of the previous Western-backed government.
The country lacks a functioning air force, possessing only a handful of old aircraft and helicopters, many of which are believed to be unserviceable.
The absence of international recognition has further limited its ability to modernise.
The Taliban government has previously accused Pakistan of carrying out drone strikes on its territory, most recently in early October, and warned that such operations would provoke retaliation.
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