By Daud Khattak
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 13, 2026
Fresh Pakistani jet and drone strikes targeting Kabul and the Kandahar, Paktika, and Paktia provinces in Afghanistan have cast a shadow over China’s shuttle-diplomacy efforts to restore peace between Pakistan and the Taliban.
There has been no official confirmation from the Pakistani government, but Taliban authorities say four civilians were killed and 15 injured in the strikes on the morning of March 13. A Taliban source told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that an oil depot was also hit in the latest air strikes.
The Afghan Taliban responded with drone strikes in the northwestern Pakistani city of Kohat on March 13, injuring two civilians, sources told Radio Mashaal.
The Afghan Taliban said that it hit a Pakistani military base in Kohat, a garrison town in Pakistan’s northwest near the Afghan border.
Chinese Peace Efforts
The fresh Pakistani attacks come on the heels of China’s intensive shuttle diplomacy efforts to restore normalcy along the 2,600-kilometer Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
In the latest move, China’s special envoy on Afghan affairs, Yue Xiaoyong, held meetings with Taliban and Pakistani officials “to promote dialogue and reconciliation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on March 12.
In a post on X, Jian also said that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar urging the need to prevent further escalation and calling on the two countries to “return to negotiations as soon as possible.” On March 12, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, posted on X about a “detailed meeting” with his Chinese counterpart, Xiaoyong, who had arrived from Kabul in Islamabad that morning.
Sadiq said they “discussed threats posed by terrorist groups such as TTP [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan] and ETIM [East Turkestan Islamic Movement] to Pakistan and China, respectively. Agreed on the need for collective efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability.”
A close neighbor of the two countries, China has invested billions of dollars in projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan to promote its presence in the region.
China has invested $65 billion in Pakistan under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
China has also signed agreements worth hundreds of millions of dollars to develop Afghanistan’s mineral resources with both previous Afghan governments and the current Taliban authorities.
Attacks On Chinese Workers
However, recent attacks on Chinese workers in Tajikistan, close to the Afghan border, as well as in Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces, have heightened security risks for Chinese personnel, threatening investments in the region.
Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, an author and China-Pakistan expert based in Islamabad, told RFE/RL that the expansion of the Afghan-Pakistani conflict in the region does not serve Beijing’s interests.
“China has concerns about the presence of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the region, and the recent attacks on Chinese workers in Tajikistan have further heightened those concerns,” he added.
The latest Chinese efforts to ease tensions in the region come as previous mediators, such as Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, are dealing with the fallout from the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran.
Pakistani authorities say that as long as the Taliban continues to host the TTP and other “terrorist groups” that carry out attacks inside Pakistan, then its military will continue cross-border operations.
The Afghan Taliban has said it will not allow Afghan soil to be used by groups targeting other countries.
Several Pakistani officials welcomed the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021. And the Pakistani military and its powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), have faced accusations of maintaining close ties with the Taliban during the militant group’s fight against US and NATO forces in the near-two-decades war.
Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
More
- UN says Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul killed four civilians
- Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of targeting civilians after 6 killed in airstrikes
- Afghan airstrikes target Pakistani military sites in retaliation for air attacks
- Pakistan Confirms Strikes On Taliban Sites In Kandahar, Kabul & Paktia
- IOM’s Torkham Transit Center Severely Damaged in Taliban-Pakistan Border Clashes
- NRC: 115,000 displaced, 826 homes damaged in Taliban-Pakistan clashes
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Khaama: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says Afghan refugee families living in Iran have been affected by recent attacks linked to the United States and Israel, leaving many already vulnerable households in a more difficult situation. The agency also reported that between 600,000 and one million Iranians have been displaced due to the recent attacks, adding pressure on local resources and humanitarian support systems across the country. 
The Guardian (UK): The shocking level of physical violence against women permitted under the Taliban’s new laws has been revealed this week by the case of a woman in northern Afghanistan, who said she was beaten with a cable wire by her husband and told by a judge: “You want a divorce just because of that? … A little anger and a few beatings won’t kill you.” Farzana* said her husband was quick-tempered and often resorted to beating her. He regularly humiliated her and called her “disabled”, she said, because her right leg was slightly shorter than the left. She had tolerated the abuse for the sake of their children, but one evening, she said, his violence went too far. 
Amu: Sixty-one civilians were killed and 116 others injured in security-related incidents across Afghanistan over a three-month period, according to a new report by the United Nations. The quarterly report, covering Nov. 1, 2025, to Jan. 31, 2026, said several civilians were killed during border clashes between Pakistani forces and Taliban authorities. Between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, at least 24 people were killed and 26 others injured in fighting along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the report said. The UN also reported that disputes related to mining activities in the northeastern province of Takhar left seven people dead and 13 others injured during the same period. 
8am: Several asylum seekers from Afghanistan in Poland have expressed concern over the harsh and inhumane conditions in the country’s immigration detention centers, stating that they face prolonged and arbitrary detention, violations of their human and health rights, denial of interpreter access, and open discrimination. They add that access to medical care, legal support, and communication with family is severely restricted, meals are inadequate and unsatisfactory, and their religious freedom and beliefs are not respected. According to them, some elderly and sick asylum seekers are held in small, overcrowded rooms, and the detention of individuals with valid documents continues, while some Iranian and Pakistani asylum seekers carrying forged Afghan documents are being released. These asylum seekers have called for the immediate release of vulnerable individuals, an investigation into unlawful detentions, and respect for their human, religious, and health rights.