# Pakistan Strikes Two Sites in Afghanistan, Kabul Says Nine Civilians Killed

Islamabad's information ministry said the strikes killed at least 22 fighters from two armed groups, while the Taliban government said the dead were nine women and children in Kunar and Helmand.

- Published: 2026-10-01T05:16:24.253Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-01/pakistan-strikes-two-sites-in-afghanistan-kabul-says-nine-ci
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2033937/calibrated-air-strikes-carried-out-at-2-locations-against-terrorist-hideouts-in-afghanistan-info-ministry), [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/afghanistan-says-nine-killed-in-pakistani-air-raids-on-kunar-helmand), [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2033885/ihc-asks-govt-to-settle-afghan-students-stay-issue-in-30-days)

Pakistan's information ministry said on Thursday that the armed forces carried out [well-planned and calibrated air strikes at two locations](https://www.dawn.com/news/2033937/calibrated-air-strikes-carried-out-at-2-locations-against-terrorist-hideouts-in-afghanistan-info-ministry) against what it called terrorist hideouts inside Afghanistan, describing the action as a continuation of Operation Ghazab lil Haq. The ministry later said the strikes, based on what it called credible intelligence, [killed at least 22 fighters](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/afghanistan-says-nine-killed-in-pakistani-air-raids-on-kunar-helmand) from two armed groups, the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and destroyed stored weapons and ammunition at the targeted camps.

The Taliban government gave a different account. Its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes destroyed three houses in Kunar and Helmand provinces and killed nine people, all of them women and children, with eleven injured, and condemned the action as aggression in violation of accepted principles. The exchange follows strikes on 21 September in Kunar and Paktika that Pakistan said targeted militant camps and that killed at least twenty-eight people, after an attack on a police station in Pakistan.

The civilian relationship is deteriorating in parallel. The Islamabad High Court this week disposed of a petition from 87 Afghan students seeking extensions of their study visas, converting it into a representation that the interior ministry must [decide within thirty days](https://www.dawn.com/news/2033885/ihc-asks-govt-to-settle-afghan-students-stay-issue-in-30-days).

Neither side disputes that the strikes happened. They disagree on who was hit and how many died, and that disagreement is the recurring feature of this border conflict, where Pakistan claims it is acting against the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army, and Kabul claims the casualties are civilians.

## What this means

The economic channel is trade and transit. The Torkham and Chaman crossings carry Pakistani exports and Afghan imports, and each round of strikes has previously been followed by closures that strand trucks and raise costs for traders on both sides, with Afghan importers and Pakistani agricultural exporters absorbing the loss. Islamabad wants to deter cross-border attacks without triggering a wider border war it cannot afford while it is under fiscal pressure, and the Taliban government wants to avoid a conflict it would lose militarily while refusing to act against groups Pakistan names. The precedent is the 2025 escalation, when strikes were followed by border closures and then a negotiated pause that held for about three months. The likelier outcome in the coming weeks is another short closure or restriction at the main crossings followed by mediated de-escalation, with Qatar or Saudi Arabia again involved. Confirmed Pakistani ground operations inside Afghanistan, rather than air strikes alone, would mark a move beyond that pattern.

## What to watch

- Whether the Torkham and Chaman border crossings stay open, the clearest near-term measure of economic damage from the exchange.
- Any third-party mediation offer from Gulf states or China, which has brokered pauses in this dispute before.
- Pakistan's treatment of Afghan residents and students, since deportations and visa decisions tend to follow military escalation and harden Kabul's position.