Pakistan kills 16 fighters amid rising Afghanistan border tensions

Along Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan, Pakistan’s army claims its forces killed 16 armed fighters.

According to an army statement from Sunday, Pakistan has “consistently been requesting the Interim Afghan Government to ensure effective border management on their side of the border.”

The army claimed that border troops in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s North Waziristan district killed all the fighters during an exchange of fire on March 22 and 23 during the night.

The troops “effectively engaged and blocked their attempt to infiltrate” continued. Pakistan’s security forces are determined and committed to preventing terrorism from entering the country.

According to a statement from Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, Sadiq Khan, the incident occurred while the country’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Sadiq Khan, is scheduled to visit Kabul for two days to discuss bilateral and economic issues.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand and Dera Ismail Khan districts, Pakistan’s security forces raided two hideouts earlier this month.

Pakistan has seen relations with its neighbor worsen over the past three years, once regarded as one of the Afghan Taliban’s closest allies.

Islamabad accuses the Taliban-ruled country of failing to stop the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that started out in 2007 and has since launched hundreds of attacks against Pakistani security forces.

More than 1,500 civilians and law enforcement personnel died in Pakistan alone in 2024 as a result of more than 500 attacks.

The Taliban, a separate organization and an ally of the Afghan Taliban, reclaimed control of the country in August 2021 as American and other NATO forces made their way out of the country after 20 years of hostilities.