The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense has issued a statement claiming that it has carried out retaliatory strikes beyond the Durand Line. Although the statement does not specify exact locations, it states that “targets of malicious elements and their supporters’ hideouts and bases across the southeastern border were hit, from where attacks on Afghanistan were being planned.”
These strikes come in response to the December 25 airstrikes by Pakistani forces in the Barmal district of southeastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province. The Pakistani bombings reportedly killed at least 70 people, most of them women and children, and injured dozens more.
Speaking about the airstrikes, Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Sharif Choudhary, claimed the attacks targeted hideouts of the anti-Pakistan armed group TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan). He warned that as long as the Taliban in Kabul provide shelter to TTP militants, Pakistan would continue targeting them inside Afghanistan.
The Taliban, however, have consistently denied allegations of providing safe havens to TTP within Afghanistan, labeling Pakistan’s security crisis as an internal issue of the neighboring country.