‘Patience Has Now Run Out’: Pakistan Says It Has Entered ‘Open War’ With Afghan Taliban

Latest Developments

Border War Between Pakistan and Taliban: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carried out retaliatory airstrikes in Kabul and other Afghan provinces on February 26, targeting the Taliban as clashes escalated along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, claimed 274 Afghan militants were killed in the strikes, while another 400 were wounded. The Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, countered that only 13 Afghan militants were killed in the strikes. Neither figure could be independently verified. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif stated that Islamabad’s “patience” with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers had ”now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
Taliban’s Attack on Pakistani Posts: The PAF’s strikes were a response to cross-border attacks earlier that day launched by the Taliban against Pakistani military posts amid a monthslong deterioration sparked by Kabul’s backing of jihadist groups in Pakistan. Taliban spokesman Mujahid claimed that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the attack, with many also captured, while Chaudhry insisted that only 12 Pakistani soldiers had been killed. The Taliban stated that the cross-border attack was in retaliation for Pakistan’s February 21-22 airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, which Pakistan claimed serves as a base for the terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
International Calls for Restraint: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the parties “to continue to resolve any differences through diplomacy” and protect civilians. Other states, including China, Russia, and Iran, also called for both sides to show restraint. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that London was “deeply concerned” about the outbreak of violence while urging “both sides to take immediate steps toward de‑escalation.” The foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar, who negotiated a ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan in October 2025, spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia to end the fighting.

FDD Expert Response

“There is a sense here of the chickens coming home to roost, as Islamabad confronts the awful reality of the return to Taliban rule that it helped bring about in 2021. But in chiding Pakistan, we must not lose sight of the cause of the current conflict. The Afghan Taliban is a monstrosity — unrepentant terrorists brutalizing their own people and seeking to destabilize and overthrow their neighbors. They are enemies of humanity, and their de facto rule in Afghanistan must never be recognized or legitimized.” — Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Fellow

“Since the fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani government have been at odds. The Taliban has not reined in its Pakistani jihadist brethren as the Pakistanis had hoped. The Pakistani government — which had previously backed the Afghan Taliban — made a bad bet, as the Afghan Taliban was always going to back its jihadist allies. It remains to be seen whether this will result in short-term clashes as in the past or if this is truly a full-blown war, as Pakistan’s defense minister has claimed.” — Bill Roggio, Senior Fellow and Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal