“Final ultimatums are over,” warned Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s Interior Minister, in a sharply worded statement that marked an escalation in rhetoric from Afghanistan. Haqqani added, that if Kabul’s senior leadership chose to act, there would be “no trace of Pakistan left.”

Haqqani’s warning comes in the wake of Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Paktika and Nangarhar. 

According to the Pakistan government, the strikes were part of “intelligence-based, selective operations” that targeted seven camps and hideouts linked to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliates of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Pakistan claimed that it had “conclusive evidence” that recent attacks inside Pakistan were orchestrated from Afghan soil.

Afghanistan, however, dismissed the Pakistani narrative. According to the Ministry of Defence in Kabul, the strikes hit civilian areas, residential homes and a religious school, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 people including women and young children, with several others missing. 

The Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes as a violation of international law and “principles of good neighbourliness,” and stated that Afghanistan now “reserves the right to respond.” 

The strikes followed a series of attacks in Pakistan. On February 21, 2026, an motorcycle borne IED rammed into a vehicle in a security forces convoy, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. Another attack on February 16, 2026, left 11 soldiers and a child dead in Bajaur. Earlier this month on February 6, 2026, a suicide blast at a mosque in Islamabad killed at least 31 worshippers, an attack claimed by ISKP. 

Pakistani authorities allege that the planning, training, and direction of these attacks took place in Afghanistan, a charge Kabul has consistently denied. Pakistan has repeatedly charged the Taliban of failing to stop non-state actors that operate from afghan soil and target Pakistani security armed forces. Afghanistan, for its part, maintains that these are Pakistan’s own internal problems and that Afghanistan does not harbour or aid any groups targeting Pakistan.  

But even as tensions rise and the Afghans promise a “measured and appropriate response,”
there are signs of  diplomatic manoeuvring. Rumours abound that Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently visiting Qatar, has sought mediation to prevent further escalation.

Pakistan’s airstrikes threaten to upend a tenuous ceasefire that was established with mediation from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey after deadly border clashes in October last year. 

As per the terms of the ceasefire, both Pakistan and Afghanistan promised to tone down hostilities on the Durand Line. Subsequently the Taliban authorities organised a congregation of over 1000 religious scholars and issued a decree prohibiting Jihad on Pakistani territory. Even the Tehreek-e-Taliban’s chief Noor Wali Mehsud, declared that their adversaries (the Pakistan Army) were not disbelievers and urged restraint and negotiation. That uneasy peace now appears broken and the Pakistan Army has reportedly been moving armour and heavy artillery to the border. 

With increasingly harsh rhetoric and hard military options on the table, Pakistan and Afghanistan edge ever closer to a wider conflict, one that will have grave consequences and far reaching ramifications for South Asia and the wider world.
 

Deepak Bhadana

Over the past decade, Deepak Bhadana has built expertise in multimedia storytelling, with a focus on military conflicts, insurgencies, international relations, the defence industry, and occasionally, wildlife and environmental issues.