What happened
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declared on Friday 27 February 2026 that the country was in “open war” with Afghanistan, hours after the Pakistan Air Force struck targets in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika in response to a Taliban-led offensive along the border. “Our patience has now run out,” Asif said, blaming the Afghan Taliban for opening “unprovoked fire on multiple locations” across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa overnight.
In a televised briefing in Rawalpindi, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan’s armed forces had repulsed the Afghan Taliban and allied Fitna al Khawarij fighters at 53 border locations and retaliated with air and ground strikes across the border. The DG ISPR put the toll at 274 Taliban regime personnel and “khawarij” killed, more than 400 injured, 73 border posts destroyed and 18 captured. Pakistan had hit 22 military targets — corps, brigade and battalion headquarters, ammunition depots and logistics bases — in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika.
Pakistan also acknowledged 12 soldiers killed, 27 wounded and one missing in action. The military imposed a countrywide ban on drone flights, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited General Headquarters for a detailed briefing on the situation.
Why it matters
Asif’s declaration marks a sharp escalation of a conflict that has simmered since Pakistan’s October 2025 strikes inside Afghanistan and the subsequent Qatar-mediated ceasefire. By branding the Afghan Taliban a “master proxy” of the TTP, BLA, ISKP and al-Qaeda, Pakistan is signalling that it now treats Kabul’s compliance on cross-border militant havens as a binary test rather than a negotiable item. Asif had warned on 20 February that Pakistan would not hesitate to strike inside Afghanistan unless Kabul stopped cross-border militancy, and on 22 February Pakistan said it struck seven militant camps and hideouts inside Afghanistan.
The military framing is also notable. Chaudhry framed the operation, named Operation Ghazab lil Haq, as precision counter-terror rather than war of conquest, emphasising that “all these targets were very carefully selected based on intelligence” and that “great care was exercised so that there is no civilian collateral damage.” Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering TTP commanders behind the 2,600-kilometre Durand Line; the latest air campaign targets Taliban government infrastructure, not just militant hideouts.
International reaction has begun to align around de-escalation. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke by phone with his Turkish and Saudi counterparts and called for “peace and stability”; Iran offered to mediate; the UK and China urged restraint; and UN officials appealed for compliance with international humanitarian law.
What is still uncertain
The two sides’ casualty figures diverge sharply, and the numbers circulating on 27 February remain unverified. The Taliban’s military chief, Qari Muhammad Fasihuddin, has warned of “an even more decisive response”, while Zabihullah Mujahid has said the group still wants the dispute resolved through dialogue. Whether Asif’s “open war” declaration is rhetorical maximum or the prelude to a sustained ground campaign, and how Beijing, Moscow and Doha respond, will determine whether the escalation de-escalates or becomes the war its critics fear.
