Afghanistan claims it blocked Pakistani airstrikes on Bagram airbase

Afghanistan announced it had repelled Pakistan’s attempted bombing raid on Bagram airfield, the former U.S. base north of Kabul, as cross‑border hostilities entered a fourth day.

Violent clashes reignited on Thursday when Afghan forces struck along the frontier and Pakistani units responded both on the ground and from the air.

Pakistan has proclaimed that it is engaged in an “open war” with Afghanistan.

On Sunday, the police headquarters in Parwan province, where Bagram lies, issued a statement that several Pakistani warplanes breached Afghan airspace “and tried to bomb Bagram airbase” around 5 a.m.

The communiqué added that Afghan troops answered with “anti‑aircraft and missile‑defence systems” and succeeded in foiling the assault.

Pakistan offered no immediate reply to the allegation.

Diplomatic attempts to broker a cease‑fire have stalled, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar among the parties trying to end the fighting.

The clash has unsettled the global community, especially because the region remains a foothold for other extremist groups such as al‑Qaida and Islamic State, which are seeking to re‑emerge.

Islamabad has charged Afghanistan with neglecting to curb militant factions that have launched attacks inside Pakistan, a charge the Taliban administration has denied.

Numerous attacks have been claimed by Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a rebel outfit that has intensified its operations in Pakistan since 2021, the year the Taliban returned to power in Kabul.

Pakistan admitted to striking major cities on Friday – including Kabul and Kandahar, the seat of Afghanistan’s supreme leader.

Security forces were noticeably more visible in Kabul on Sunday, with a higher number of checkpoints than usual in the city centre.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said Pakistani fire had killed 36 civilians across several provinces since Thursday, a claim Islamabad has not addressed.

Several residents of Afghanistan’s Khost and Nangarhar provinces told AFP that the two sides were involved in intermittent skirmishes on Sunday afternoon.

At the Torkham crossing – a principal route for Afghans returning from Pakistan – overnight fighting was reported by the Nangarhar provincial information office.

A military unit’s spokesman said heavy combat continued through the night in Paktia province.

Afghan officials maintained that Thursday’s border offensive was a retaliation for earlier airstrikes that caused civilian casualties, which Pakistan asserted were aimed at militants.

Analysts noted that this week’s surge marked the first instance of Pakistan directing airstrikes at Afghan government installations, a sharp departure from prior missions that targeted insurgents.

Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, claimed that 46 sites across Afghanistan had been struck by air raids since the campaign began.

He also stated that 415 Afghan soldiers had been killed.