Amu: The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that recent US and Israeli strikes on Iran would have “long-term negative consequences” for the region, as hostilities continued to escalate. In a statement, the ministry expressed what it called “deep regret” over the attacks on Iran, which it said were initiated by Israel and the United States and later expanded with Iran’s retaliatory strikes, including against Gulf countries. Click here to read more (external link).
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Amu: Pakistani fighter jets struck Bagram Air Base late Friday night, according to local sources in Parwan province, who described hearing several powerful explosions from the area. The sources told Amu TV that three aircraft carried out the attack on the airfield, once the largest US military base in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
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Amu: The Taliban’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that 110 Pakistani soldiers had been killed and 68 wounded in what it described as retaliatory operations over the past two days. It also claimed that key military centers and facilities inside Pakistan had been targeted by Taliban drones, resulting in dozens more Pakistani casualties. The claims could not be independently verified. Click here to read more (external link).
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Khaama: Afghan authorities claim a Pakistani fighter jet was downed in Nangarhar, though the incident has not been independently verified. Sayed Tayyeb Hammad, spokesman for the Nangarhar Police Command, claimed that Afghan forces shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in the province. He said the pilot survived and was taken into custody. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ariana: Residents of Afghanistan’s capital report that life in Kabul remains calm and stable following last night’s airstrikes by the Pakistani military. People began Friday morning normally, without fear or anxiety, according to local accounts. Marketplaces, commercial centers, and main roads across the city have seen regular activity, with families attending to daily routines. Citizens say the general atmosphere reflects confidence and a positive spirit throughout the capital. Click here to read more (external link).
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By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal and RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
February 26, 2026
Several explosions have rocked Kabul just hours after Afghanistan and Pakistan traded strikes on each other in their volatile mountain border region as days of escalating tensions boiled over with both sides claiming to have killed dozens of militants and security forces.
Local sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that four locations were under attack in Afghanistan’s capital in the early hours of February 27, as well as a military base in the Kandahar region.
The sound of military jets were reportedly heard as explosions detonated around the capital.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, confirmed strikes in “certain areas of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia.” He added that there were no reports of casualties.
Pakistan’s military confirmed its fighter planes had bombed Kabul, with Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for the Pakistani government, saying in a social media post that “counter strikes against targets in Afghanistan continue.”
The strikes on Kabul came amid a major escalation in hostilities between Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government and Islamabad.
Just hours earlier, Mujahid said Kabul had launched “a large-scale offensive operation against Pakistani military centers and military installations along the Durand Line,” a volatile border that cuts through traditional Pashtun and Baloch tribal territories.
Taliban’s Defense Ministry claimed that 55 Pakistani security personnel had been killed, while two bases and 19 posts were captured across the border by its forces.
Islamabad’s troops retaliated, Pakistani officials said, with Zaidi saying a total of 133 Afghan Taliban members are “confirmed killed,” and more than 200 others wounded.
“Many more casualties estimated in strikes in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar military targets,” he added.
The claims from both sides could not be independently verified, though a local Kabul resident told RFE/RL that a “huge explosion” rocked the city.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said country’s forces were ready to “protect the country’s security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
“The Pakistani military is determined not to allow the country’s peace and security to be compromised under any circumstances,” he wrote on X.
The latest wave of attacks came after Pakistani air strikes four days earlier killed at least 18 people in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces.
Pakistan said it had launched those strikes on seven militant sites inside Afghanistan in a “retributive response” to recent suicide attacks it said were carried out by Afghan-based extremists. Pakistan claimed the strikes killed as many as 80 militants.
Taliban-run Afghan security structures rejected the claim as “false,” while government officials also said they were preparing “an appropriate and calculated response.”
Afghanistan denies Pakistan’s accusations that it is sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban that appears to operate separately.
Tensions have run high between the two countries since Pakistan conducted air strikes on Kabul in October 2025 and followed up with additional attacks on Afghan territory.
Dozens of soldiers from both sides were killed in artillery clashes and heavy gunfire last year before a cease-fire was agreed through Qatari mediation.
However, several rounds of talks mediated by Qatar and Turkey, aimed at easing the tensions along the border, have failed to bring about a long-term breakthrough.
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The Express Tribune (Pakistan): Afghanistan’s deepest struggle is not foreign invasion, but building an inclusive state across ethnic fault lines – Genuine decentralisation, equitable representation and constitutional safeguards for minority rights could help ease the zero-sum competition for control of Kabul. When power is overly concentrated, every political shift becomes existential. When authority is shared, political life becomes less combustible. Click here to read more (external link).