Afghanistan – Pakistan skirmishes The Afghanistan – Pakistan skirmishes are cross - border shellings that have occurred since 1949 along the poorly marked Durand Line border between the unified Pakistan Armed Forces and the Afghan National Security Forces . The latest hostility began in mid - 2003 around Khost Province in Afghanistan and continued until 2013 after a dozen missiles were reportedly fired from Pakistan that killed an Afghan woman and wounded several others in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan . The cross - border shellings intensified in 2011 and 2012 with many reports from different occasions claiming that Pakistani missiles have hit civilian areas inside Afghanistan ' s Nuristan Province , Kunar Province and Nangarhar Province . Most of this is related to the United States drone attacks in Pakistan from the Afghan side , the Taliban insurgency and the fact that the border has never been properly marked . Background . Pakistan ' s government , particularly its Inter - Services Intelligence ( ISI ) , has been heavily involved in the affairs of Afghanistan since the 1970s . On the other hand , Afghanistan has always refused to indorse the 1893 Durand Line Agreement in recognizing the Durand Line as its international border with Pakistan . The single - page Durand Line Agreement was inherited by Pakistan after the end of British rule in 1947 . The cross - border attacks have been occurring occasionally since 1949 when Pakistani military bombed an Afghan village . The Durand Line border cuts in the middle of the warring and difficult to rule Pashtun tribes who live on both sides . They make up the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan . In the early 1960s , some Pashtun nationalists tried to press for an independent state to be called Pashtunistan but the idea became unpopular . Even before the creation of Pakistan , the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan have been used as a frontier to defend British India from possible military incursions from Persia ( Iran ) and Afghanistan , especially the powerful Russia ( Soviet Union ) of the north . The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan forced millions of Afghans to take refuge inside Pakistan ' s western frontier region and in Iran . Leaders of Pakistan feared that the Soviet Union began some kind of military show down and that Pakistan or at least its Balochistan province was next on the Soviet ' s agenda . During the early 1980s , multi - national mujahideen forces ( consisting of about 100 , 000 fighters from forty different Muslim countries in addition to 150 , 000 local fighters ) found support from the United States , Saudi Arabia , Pakistan , and Iran in the context of the Cold War . They were trained by Pakistani military in its frontier region around the Durand Line . The Soviet Union decided to withdraw in 1989 and when aid dried up on Afghanistan in 1992 a civil war began . This was followed by the rise and fall of the Taliban government . Since late 2001 , as high as 140 , 000 NATO - led troops were stationed in Afghanistan to train Afghans and rebuild their war - torn country . In the meantime , the Taliban insurgency began around 2004 with militants mostly from the Durand Line areas attacking Afghanistan . To counter the insurgency and bring stability in Afghanistan , the United States built bases and garrisons for the Afghan National Security Forces , and is using unmanned aerial vehicle s to hit alleged safe havens of terrorists in Pakistan , mainly the Haqqani network in and around the Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATA ) . Beginning of recent border hostilities . Missile shellings between Pakistani and Afghan forces erupted when the Pakistani army attempted to position its forces in the mountains of Goyee area in Jaji district of Paktia province in Afghanistan , General Zahir Azimi , Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman , told a press conference . At around 9 : 00 AM local time on Sunday 13 May 2007 , Afghanistan launched attacks towards five or six Pakistani military positions in the Kurram tribal region in northwest Pakistan . At the same time , Afghanistan accuses Pakistani military ground contingent crossed the border more than a mile into Afghanistan ' s Paktia province and killed two Afghan civilians . Gen . Azimi also accused the Pakistani military of using artillery , saying the alleged attack was a clear violation . The Pakistan military spokesman Maj . Gen . Waheed Arshad denied Pakistani forces had crossed the border and instead accused the Afghan National Army of firing on Pakistani positions , and called the firing " unprovoked and without any reason . " He further stated that Pakistani forces returned fire only after being attacked by the Afghan National Army and that seven Afghan soldiers had been killed whilst three Pakistani soldiers had been wounded , with the official count states eight Pakistani soldiers died and seven Afghan soldiers died . General Azimi stated that Pakistani troops had not only crossed into Afghanistan but that they attempted to position themselves permanently in the Jaji district of Paktia province . He further stated that two of the Afghan civilians killed were children and that two policeman of the Afghan National Police were also injured . The police chief for Paktia province , Abdul Rahman Sarjang , stated that one policeman was killed and three were wounded . Gen . Azimi also stated that thousands of local men from Paktia joined the Afghan army and fired on Pakistani military helicopters operating on Afghan territory and that one Pakistani helicopter was destroyed by Afghan MANPAD missiles . Pakistan responded to the fighting with artillery fire into Afghanistan . Timeline of events . The following is a partial list of events relating to the Afghanistan – Pakistan skirmishes . Most of these events cannot be independently verified because news journalists usually have very limited access to reaching the areas where the fightings take place . It is very difficult for journalists to reach these dangerous areas and the militaries usually do not allow them . It should be noted that the main insurgent groups fighting with government forces in these areas are Tehrik - i - Taliban Pakistan , which Pakistan feels is being supported by elements inside Afghanistan , and the Haqqani network which Afghanistan and NATO feel is being supported by Pakistani elements . The claimed agenda of these groups is to establish a completely independent Islamic rule in their areas based on strict Sharia law .