Dozens Killed As Fresh Clashes Erupt On Afghan Border; Pakistan Seeks Mediation From Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Dozens were killed overnight as fierce exchanges of fire between Pakistani forces and Taliban fighters reignited along the volatile Pakistan–Afghanistan border, marking the deadliest escalation between the neighbours since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. After a brief lull, hostilities flared on Tuesday night with both sides trading accusations over who fired first, even as Islamabad scrambled to enlist Qatar and Saudi Arabia to mediate amid faltering bilateral contacts and Kabul’s refusal to admit Pakistani ministers for talks.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid alleged that Pakistani troops initiated the latest round by deploying “light and heavy weapons” in the Spin Boldak district, claiming 15 civilian deaths and more than 100 injuries, including scores of women and children, according to local hospital tallies. Afghan officials said their forces retaliated across multiple sectors, asserting they inflicted significant casualties and captured Pakistani weaponry and armour. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Taliban fighters riding a seized Pakistani T‑55 tank, reportedly part of a batch procured by Islamabad from Serbia to bolster Durand Line defences.

Pakistan’s military presented a starkly different account, accusing Taliban units of mounting coordinated assaults on two major border posts in the country’s southwest and northwest. Security officials said both attacks were repulsed, with about 30 Taliban fighters killed in the operations, and reported an additional 20 fatalities among Taliban combatants near Spin Boldak. Independent verification of rival casualty figures remained difficult amid the fluidity of the fighting and restricted access to frontline areas.The crisis erupted days after Pakistan reportedly targeted Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sites near Kabul, a move Afghan authorities denounced as a breach of sovereignty and vowed to answer in kind. The renewed clashes underscore the combustible mix of territorial disputes, cross‑border militancy, and mistrust that has dogged relations, even as Kabul’s acting foreign minister undertakes a maiden visit to India to deepen engagement with New Delhi—an outreach that further complicates Islamabad’s strategic calculus.

Diplomatic avenues are narrowing as battlefield dynamics intensify. With Kabul rebuffing direct ministerial talks, Islamabad has turned to Doha and Riyadh to help de‑escalate and broker rules‑of‑engagement mechanisms to prevent further civilian harm. Regional observers warn that without a credible backchannel and verifiable security understandings on counter‑militancy operations, spirals of retaliation could trigger broader confrontations along multiple stretches of the frontier, drawing in local militias and raising the risk of prolonged disruption to cross‑border trade and humanitarian access.

For residents on both sides of the Durand Line, the renewed hostilities have revived memories of previous flare‑ups that shuttered crossings, displaced families, and crippled local economies. With casualty claims mounting and neither side signalling a durable ceasefire, the immediate priority for mediators will be to secure a humanitarian pause, establish incident‑prevention hotlines, and verify competing narratives—steps seen as essential to creating space for any substantive political dialogue.