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PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday its forces had repelled coordinated attacks by Afghan Taliban fighters at multiple points along their shared border in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, accusing Kabul’s forces of destroying a key trade gate and endangering civilians.

The clashes came days after some of the heaviest cross-border fighting in recent years, in which Pakistan said 23 of its soldiers were killed while Afghan authorities claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani troops. The escalation has strained already frayed ties, coming as Afghanistan’s foreign minister visited archrival India. Pakistan views New Delhi’s growing influence in Afghanistan as a regional security threat, given their own long-standing rivalry.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated sharply since 2021, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Hopes for cooperation soon gave way to distrust as cross-border militancy surged, particularly in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan says the Afghan Taliban are sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegation, saying it does not permit its territory to be used against other countries.

“The Afghan Taliban resorted to cowardly attack at four locations in Spin Boldak area of Balochistan. The attack was effectively repulsed by Pakistani Forces,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement. 

It said militants destroyed the Pak-Afghan Friendship Gate on their side, a symbolic port of entry infrastructure built to facilitate bilateral trade and regulated crossings, undermining formal border control, and launched assaults that penetrated villages split by the frontier, disregarding civilian safety.

The military said the attacks were coordinated with members of “Fitna Al-Khawarij,” a term Pakistan uses for militants linked to the TTP and which Pakistan says are backed by Afghanistan and India. Both deny the charge. 

The ISPR said 15–20 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed in Spin Boldak and another 25–30 in Kurram district, where Pakistani troops destroyed eight Taliban posts and six tanks in what it called a “proportionate response.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the Kabul government said 15 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in fresh clashes on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The insinuations that the attack was initiated by Pakistan are outrageous and blatant lies, just like the claims of capturing Pakistani posts or equipment,” the ISPR said, calling Taliban statements “propaganda … debunked with basic fact checks.” 

It added: “The Armed Forces stand resolute and fully prepared to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan. All acts of aggression against Pakistan will be responded to with full force.”

Cross-border trade remained suspended on Wednesday as officials on both sides confirmed military reinforcements had been deployed around Chaman and Spin Boldak. 

Tensions between the two nations have also worsened since 2023 when Pakistan began deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans, a move it said was necessary to curb terrorism and smuggling. By 2025, more than 800,000 Afghans had been repatriated or forced out, according to government figures.

India’s deepening engagement with the Taliban, including reopening its Kabul embassy last week, has further heightened Islamabad’s concerns. 

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Wednesday accused India’s armed forces of reviving “delusional, fabricated and provocative propaganda” ahead of state elections, warning that chest-thumping by a nuclear-armed military could stoke a cycle of jingoism and destabilize South Asia.

The statement comes five months after the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, termed “Marka-e-Haq” (“Battle of Truth”) by Pakistan’s military, which saw the two nations exchange artillery, missile and drone strikes before a US-brokered ceasefire was announced on May 10. The calm has largely held since the truce.

On Wednesday the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), alleged Indian military leaders have resumed pre-election rhetoric in the run-up to Bihar assembly polls scheduled for Nov. 6 and 11, 2025, and West Bengal’s assembly elections due in 2026. ISPR said such statements were being issued “under immense political pressure.”

Indian political and security rhetoric in recent months has included public statements blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorism in Kashmir, claims that Pakistani forces plan incursions ahead of India’s elections and assertions of “bloodshed” narratives designed to rally domestic political support. 

“Any professional soldier would know that unnecessary chest-thumping and unwarranted statements might initiate a cycle of jingoism and lead to serious consequences for peace and stability in South Asia,” ISPR said.

“Every act of aggression will be dealt with a swift, resolute and intense response that will be remembered by posterity.”

The military said it viewed with “grave concern” what it called repeat pre-poll narratives from India and described them as attempts to “mold history” with “Bollywood-style scripts.”

The heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan was sparked by an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on “terrorists” backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad.

On May 7, Indian jets bombed what New Delhi called “terrorist infrastructure” sites across the border. Pakistan has said it downed six Indian planes, including at least three Rafale fighters, in the initial clashes. Islamabad has denied it suffered any losses of planes but has acknowledged its air bases suffered some hits although losses were minimal.

Pakistan and India have been at loggerheads since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and both claim the disputed Kashmir region in full but rule it in part.