Targeting the Barmal area, the strikes have escalated already fragile ties between the surrounding nations. Although the Taliban called the strikes "barbaric," a security official from Pakistan stated the operation aimed at "terrorist hideouts" and killed twenty Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists.

The strikes represent a notable increase in cross-border conflicts, which have been growing ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021. Late on Tuesday, Pakistan targeted four sites in Barmal according reports from Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. He verified the civilian count of 46, six additional injured largely among minors. Although Pakistan's military and foreign ministry have not yet formally responded, a senior security official speaking anonymously discounted the Taliban's assertions of civilian casualties as "baseless and misleading."

Often referred to be Pakistan's native Taliban group, the TTP has ideological connections to the Afghan Taliban. The most recent strike came after a TTP raid on a Pakistani army position close to the Afghanistan border, which claimed sixteen deaths. Though not the main cause, the Pakistani security official said that this operation acted as a "significant trigger" for the airstrikes. Islamabad has often requested the Taliban to act decisively against TTP militants reportedly operating from Afghan territory, but Pakistan argues these appeals have gone unheeded.

The Taliban reacted to the bombings by strongly denouncing the acts as "aggression" and promised reprisals. Declared to breach Afghanistan's sovereignty, the Taliban's defense ministry promised to guard their land from more invasions. Afghan citizens also fiercely objected to the strikes. Maleel, a local, said AFP that one house targeted by the blast claimed eighteen members of a single family dead. He related how two to three houses were wrecked by the shelling, therefore affecting whole families.

According to Taliban sources, the victims comprised Waziristan residents as well as refugees from Pakistan's bordering territory, Paktika. Long a center of militant activity, North Waziristan was the target of Pakistani military operations and U.S. drone strikes following the events of 9/11. Many of the displaced people from these operations had to flee into Afghanistan.

The TTP claimed that Pakistan deliberately targeted homes containing refugees, hence aggravating tensions. Although Kabul has denied supporting TTP militants, a July UN Security Council analysis calculated that up to 6,500 TTP fighters call Afghanistan home. Furthermore mentioned in the study was the Taliban's opinion of the TTP as not a terrorist group. But Pakistan charges the Afghan Taliban with giving militants safe havens so they may start cross-border assaults. This problem has caused a lot of conflict, hence Islamabad has tightened border restrictions and started campaigns to deport illegal Afghan immigrants.

Tuesday's strikes fell on a visit to Kabul by Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan, who was meeting high-level Taliban officials. Islamabad links this diplomatic interaction to the Taliban's inaction against the TTP, which fuels rising militant bloodshed in Pakistan's western border areas. Pakistan has cautioned that such military actions will keep on as required to stop militant revival.

Already strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the increase in militant violence has further taxed them. Security issues combined with claims of non-cooperation have eclipsed efforts at diplomatic settlement. While the strikes in Kabul constitute a breach of Afghan sovereignty, for Islamabad the problem still remains a serious national security one.

Pakistan Airstrikes Kill 46 civilians in an eastern border region of Afghanistan

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