# Afghanistan–Pakistan war

| Afghanistan–Pakistan war |
| --- |
| Part of the Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes, the insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
|  Afghanistan (orange) and Pakistan (green) |
|

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Date | 21 February 2026 – present (3 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) |
| Location | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
| Status |
Ongoing |

 |
| Belligerents |
| * **Afghanistan Pakistani Taliban

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* Islamic State
 | **Pakistan** |
| Commanders and leaders |
| * Hibatullah Akhundzada
* Hasan Akhund
* Sirajuddin Haqqani
* Mullah Yaqoob
* Fasihuddin Fitrat
* Abdul Hamid Khorasani
* Noor Wali Mehsud
 | * Asif Ali Zardari
* Shehbaz Sharif
* Asim Munir
* Khawaja Asif
* Zaheer Ahmad Babar
* Mohsin Naqvi
 |
| Units involved |
| * Afghan Armed Forces
	+ Islamic National Army
		- Badri 313 Battalion
* Pakistani Taliban

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* Islamic State – Khorasan Province
 | * Pakistan Armed Forces
	+ Pakistan Army
		- XI Corps
		- XII Corps
		- Artillery Regiment Corps
		- Air Defence Corps
	+ Pakistan Air Force
* Civil Armed Forces
	+ Frontier Corps
		- FC KPK North
		- FC KPK South
		- FCB-N
		- FCB-S
 |
| Casualties and losses |
| * **Per Pakistan: 13 soldiers killed, 27 injured

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**Claimed by Afghanistan: 327 soldiers killed, 350+ injured
 | * **Per Afghanistan: 28 soldiers killed, 42 injured
* **Per local Afghan sources: 40 soldiers killed in Nuristan province

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* **Claimed by Pakistan: 80+ TTP militants killed
* 796 Taliban militants killed, 1,043+ injured
 |

On 21 February 2026, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched airstrikes over the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost in Afghanistan. Pakistan said they were targeting seven militant camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) across the three provinces, which Pakistan blamed on the Taliban of Afghanistan.

However, Taliban officials in Afghanistan said the airstrikes targeted civilian targets and religious centers, and 18 civilians died in Nangarhar province. Pakistani officials denied targeting civilians in Afghanistan. The Express Tribune reported, using military sources, that 80 militants were killed. Shayesteh Jan Ahadi, former head of the Paktia Provincial Council, said that Pakistani airstrikes in many districts were very widespread and powerful. He also said that these attacks may have caused many deaths, but the Taliban were stopping photos and videos of the targeted areas from being shared. Taliban-led Afghanistan strongly criticized the attacks and said they would respond at the right time.

On 26 February 2026, Afghanistan launched a counterattack against Pakistan. In response, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab Lil Haq ("Righteous Fury") against the Taliban.

## Analysis

The American newspaper Washington Times has called the Pakistani military operation in Afghanistan "Pakistan's quiet military success."

Sultan Ahmad Baheen, former Afghan ambassador to China, suggested that the Pakistani attacks coincided with the 2026 Iran war to minimize international attention on the airstrikes. He claimed that "Pakistan does not want a fully stable and independent Afghanistan" in the long term, but rather a political landscape in Kabul that remains dependent on Islamabad.

## Related pages

* 2025 Afghanistan–Pakistan conflict
* Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes
* 2025 India–Pakistan conflict