KHOST, Afghanistan: Residents in Khost city in Afghanistan have rallied behind Taliban forces following a weekend of fierce border clashes with Pakistan, expressing both defiance and calls for negotiation amid a backdrop of escalating bilateral tensions.

Pakistan carried out an air strike on the Afghan capital of Kabul last week, which targeted the head of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), militant group, according to Pakistani security officials. It is not clear if he survived. Late on Saturday, Taliban forces attacked Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600 km (1,600 miles) border, with Pakistani forces later retaliating. Guns, artillery and drones exchanged fire into the early hours of Sunday. Some sporadic fighting continued on Sunday. 

The Pakistan military said it lost 23 soldiers and had “neutralized more than 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists.” The Taliban, however, said nine fighters died on their side and alleged that 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed, figures that Islamabad denies. Border crossings including Torkham and Chaman were shut down, halting trade and movement.

“Several days ago, Pakistan, against international law, attacked and violated Afghanistan’s territory. Our security forces, to defend our land and country, were forced to carry out counterattacks against Pakistan,” said Rashidullah Hamdard, a Khost resident.

“I want other countries to stop attacking our security forces and borders again. If they do, we will give them a crushing response,” warned another resident, Wahidullah.

Pakistan welcomed the return to power of the Taliban in 2021, with then Prime Minister Imran Khan saying that Afghans had “broken the shackles of slavery.”

But Islamabad soon found that the Taliban’s loyalties lay elsewhere. There has since been a sharp increase in attacks by the TTP in Pakistan.

Islamabad says that the TTP’s leadership and many of its fighters are based in Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly called on the Taliban administration to rein in the group, but Kabul insists that the TTP does not have a presence in the country.

Islamabad has itself been accused of supporting the two-decade Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan against the US-backed government, which it denies, but any influence over the group has since collapsed. Now, Pakistani officials say their patience has run out.

Islamabad also accuses India, its longstanding adversary, of working with Afghanistan to support the TTP and other militants against Pakistan, a claim New Delhi denies. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is currently on a multi-day trip to India, during which New Delhi upgraded relations between the two nations, raising further concerns in Islamabad.

As regional rivalries sharpen, analysts warn that worsening Pakistan-Afghanistan ties could draw in other powers and destabilize trade, security, and counterterrorism efforts.

“We ask the people and governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to solve problems by talking,” said Bilal Sabawoon, a Khost resident. “If anyone attacks another country, this goes against Islamic and international law.”