Afghanistan says Pakistan strike on Kabul leaves 4 dead

Tooba Khan, Bloomberg News on Mar 13, 2026

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Afghanistan said fresh Pakistani airstrikes killed at least four people and hit a fuel depot site of a domestic airline, as fighting between the two sides intensified.

The Taliban government and police said Friday that the targets included a fuel storage site of private airline Kam Air near Kandahar Airport in the south of the country and a house in the capital Kabul killing four people.

The two sides renewed clashes last month, with Islamabad’s defense minister Khawaja Asif declaring “open war” against the Taliban government after striking military targets.

At the center of the dispute is Islamabad’s claim that Kabul is giving refuge to militant groups which carry out repeated violent attacks inside Pakistan. The Kabul government denies the accusation.

In response to the strikes, the Afghan government said it had “precisely targeted” a military base in Pakistan. But Islamabad’s information ministry denied the claim, saying instead that three drones sent by militants backed by Kabul had been shot down.

Pakistan then brought down two more drones near capital Islamabad that caused no damage, according to a Pakistani security official speaking on condition of anonymity in a text message to Bloomberg News. Afghanistan’s defense ministry said it struck a military site in Islamabad.

The Taliban government’s military is limited largely to ground operations, with almost no air capability. In the last two weeks, Pakistan says fighting at the border has killed hundreds of Afghan soldiers and militants — a claim that is not verified by independent sources. Afghanistan has also claimed killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistani security officials confirmed the overnight strikes, saying they had hit accurate targets of a militant group.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have steadily deteriorated since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces. Pakistan has reported a significant rise in violence in its border regions over the past four years.

Operations won’t halt until Kabul stops supporting militant groups, Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has previously said.

Earlier this week, Beijing sent a special envoy to Afghanistan in an attempt to promote peace talks, after a truce brokered by Qatar and Turkey in October fell apart.

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(With assistance from Faseeh Mangi.)