Pakistan strikes Afghanistan

[Ihatetomatoes]

The PM of Pakistan says his forces are ready to 'crush' Taliban.

AIBU to think that radicalised islamists, The Taliban etc can't be crushed unless Iran and other sources of funding and weapons stopped supplying them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world

Some background

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj32zx48xvxo

Pakistan has bombed areas in Afghanistan on Friday, after the Afghan Taliban earlier announced a major offensive against Pakistani military posts near the border.

It is the latest escalation of tensions between the neighbouring countries.

Afghanistan's Taliban government said it had launched an offensive on Pakistani military bases near the border on Thursday night.

Pakistan responded within hours, bombing targets in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the provinces of Kandahar and Paktika - Afghan provinces close to its 2,600 km (1,615 miles) border.

Details are still emerging and the BBC has yet to confirm whether there are casualties on either side.

The bombings are the most significant development in the ongoing tensions between the two countries, which had agreed to a ceasefire last October following a week of deadly clashes.

Here is what we know so far.

What happened overnight?
Details are still emerging, and the BBC has not yet managed to verify all the claims.

The first reports began to surface on Thursday, 26 February.

An offensive was launched at 20:00 local time (15:30 GMT) along the border in the provinces of Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, Khost, Paktia and Paktika, according to statements from Taliban officials.

Pakistan quickly retaliated, saying the Taliban had "miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire on multiple locations" across the border in its north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had been met with an "immediate and effective response" by Islamabad's security forces.

It then launched a series of bombing raids on Afghanistan in the early hours of Friday morning, striking targets in Kabul and in border provinces.

Further outbreaks of violence were reported near the key Torkham border crossing, which sits between Peshawar and Jalalabad, by AFP journalists at the scene.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Afghan Taliban spokesman, published - then subsequently deleted - a post on X that the group had launched strikes early on Friday on Pakistani military positions in Kandahar and Helmand, two provinces in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban has said it carried out air strikes on several targets within Pakistan on Friday morning. Sources in the Taliban government told the BBC these were with drones launched from Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Minister for Information Atta Tarar said Pakistan had thwarted small drone attacks on Abbottabad, Swabi and Nowshera.

For the posters who think I'm being unreasonable....... how do you stop extreme islamist groups?

Realise most people aren't interested but when other countries become involved it might affect us.

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/pakistan-war-taliban-afghanistan-strikes-b2928819.html?test_group=lighteradlayout

Russia’s foreign ministry called on Pakistan and Afghanistan to halt the conflict with immediate effect and to return to the negotiating table. (Obviously that instruction doesn't apply to them).

Officials from Russia, Turkey, China and Saudi Arabia are reportedly attempting to mediate, according to diplomats and news reports. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, announced Tehran is also ready to mediate.

Ignore me!

Everyone is taking their seats for WW3 ...

You are correct though, bleak news. So many conflicts.

Thanks I just don't know enough about it all to comment. I find it all so frightening and depressing.

This is Mumsnet. Ignorance is never a bar.

@SerendipityJane To be fair we could say that about the whole internet!

Pakistan provided sanctuary for the Taliban for 20 years while America was in Afghanistan. Everyone thought the taliban had gone - in reality they just went to Pakistan and waited for America to leave.

So it seems really odd to me now that Pakistan is at war with them. It doesn't make sense.

Did I say otherwise ? 😀

Geopolitics is a game. You just need to know the rules. This is ultimately going to involve India (as indeed everything Pakistan ever does has to). China and the US. Which then brings in Russia.

More than enough to make up a tea party.

Tbf Pakistan created them and they were often educated in Pakinstani maddrassas. It’s not surprising this happened tbh given that Afghanistan is basically a hidey hole for all sorts of nasty little outfits, the Pakistani army fund and help groups which launch attacks on India. This is the problem with funding and supporting what are basically terrorist groups.

The Pakistani army has a lot to answer for tbh. Hope civilian casualties on both sides are as minimal as possible.

well "the West" tried for 20 years, left and they were back within months. So I agree with you OP.

They accused them of allowing the TTP to cross between the borders and sheltering them.

The TTP are probably most famous in the west for attacking a school in Pakistan that was mostly teaching the children of police and army people. It was horrific, they were just kids, 130 dead. That still pops in my head from time to time, the active targeting of a school, it was extremely low.

Basically you stay well away from them , mark them on a map with "here be dragons " plus some scary pictures and you keep them well away from your borders .

I don’t think they get funding from Iran though OP, they are piss poor. They have massive black markets for arms and drugs and quite a few mines (gold etc). I think originally the taliban were setting fire to the poppy fields but I think a lot of local commanders started turning a blind eye to it.

I don’t think they get funding from Iran though OP, they are piss poor. They have massive black markets for arms and drugs and quite a few mines (gold etc). I think originally the taliban were setting fire to the poppy fields but I think a lot of local commanders started turning a blind eye to it.