The Afghan Taliban has conducted a series of cross‑border attacks on Pakistan’s military forces along the Afghanistan–Pakistan frontier, particularly in recent months and weeks, marking a significant escalation in hostilities between the two sides.

These operations have mainly targeted Pakistani border posts, checkpoints, and forward‑deployed infantry positions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal districts, with the Taliban claiming to have overrun several Pakistani military outposts and killed or captured soldiers in some engagements.

On at least one major occasion in late February 2026, the Taliban launched a “large‑scale” retaliatory assault after earlier Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory, reporting heavy fire along multiple sectors of the border and asserting that they inflicted serious casualties on Pakistani troops.

Pakistani officials have acknowledged that two of their soldiers were killed and several others wounded in these attacks, while disputing Taliban claims of territorial gains and asserting that their own forces mounted a swift and effective counter‑response.

Earlier clashes in October 2025 saw the Afghan Taliban describe its strikes as “overnight retaliatory operations” against Pakistani military installations at about 20 locations from Kunar in the north to Kandahar in the south, with both sides claiming high enemy casualties and damage to fortifications, artillery positions, and what Pakistan described as militant training camps adjacent to the border. 

Pakistan’s military has accused the Taliban‑led Afghan government of providing sanctuary and support to anti‑Pakistani groups such as the TTP, which it cites as a proximate cause for the border attacks on its forces, while Kabul frames its strikes as defensive responses to Pakistani air and ground operations inside Afghanistan.

The pattern of Taliban attacks on the Pakistan military has involved sustained and heavy small‑arms and mortar fire on border posts, infiltration‑style assaults on forward positions, and occasional capture or temporary occupation of Pakistani checkpoints, all set against a backdrop of mutual airstrikes and deep‑seated distrust over cross‑border militant activity.

Both sides’ casualty claims are highly discrepant and should be treated as unverified, but they do give a rough picture of the scale each side attributes to the clashes. The Afghan Taliban has claimed that in recent cross‑border operations it killed at least 55 Pakistani soldiers and captured two bases plus dozens of posts, while also stating that many of its own fighters were killed and wounded in the prolonged exchanges of fire. These Taliban figures are not independently corroborated and appear on the higher end of what other regional or international observers consider plausible.

IDN (With Agency Inputs)