How do Pakistan and Taliban Afghan militaries stack up as tensions flare?
How do Pakistan and Taliban Afghan militaries stack up as tensions flare?/node/2634624/pakistan
How do Pakistan and Taliban Afghan militaries stack up as tensions flare?
Taliban security personnel and residents search for victims after an overnight Pakistani air strike hit a residential area at the Girdi Kas village in Bihsud district, Nangarhar province on February 22, 2026. (AFP/File)
How do Pakistan and Taliban Afghan militaries stack up as tensions flare?
Pakistan fields 660,000 active troops, 465 combat aircraft and 170 nuclear warheads, dwarfing Taliban forces
Afghan Taliban command about 172,000 personnel with limited air capability and no nuclear arsenal
Updated 27 February 2026
Reuters
Cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensified overnight, with both sides claiming heavy losses and the Pakistani defense minister saying his country was in an “open war” with its neighbor.
As tensions persist, here is a look at how Pakistan dwarfs Afghanistan’s military forces and arsenals, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
OVERVIEW
Pakistan’s armed forces benefit from good recruitment and retention, bolstered by equipment from its main defense partner China. Islamabad continues to invest in its military nuclear programs and is also modernizing its navy and air force.
The capability of the Afghan Taliban’s armed forces, meanwhile, is declining, with a fall in their ability to use foreign equipment that the Islamist group seized when it returned to power in the landlocked country in 2021.
A lack of international recognition for the Taliban administration has also hurt military modernization.
PERSONNEL
Pakistan has 660,000 active personnel in its defense forces, of whom 560,000 are in the army, 70,000 are in the air force, and 30,000 are in the navy.
The strength of the Afghan Taliban’s military is thinner, with only 172,000 active personnel. The group has, however, announced plans to expand its armed forces to 200,000 personnel.
FIGHTING VEHICLES AND ARTILLERY
Pakistan has more than 6,000 armored fighting vehicles, and over 4,600 pieces of artillery.
The Afghan forces also possess armored fighting vehicles, including Soviet-era main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and autonomous underwater vehicles, but their exact number is unknown.
The precise number of artillery they possess, which is of at least three different types, is similarly not known.
AIR FORCE
Pakistan has a fleet of 465 combat aircraft and more than 260 helicopters that include multi-role, attack and transport choppers.
Afghanistan has no fighter jets and no real air force to speak of. It is known to possess at least six aircraft — some of them dating back again to the Soviet era — and 23 helicopters, although it is not possible to assess how many are in flying condition.
NUCLEAR ARSENAL
While Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country and has 170 warheads, Afghanistan does not have a nuclear arsenal.
ISLAMABAD: At least ten people were killed and over 30 injured in clashes near the US Consulate in Karachi on Sunday, a police surgeon said, as protests erupted across parts of Pakistan following Iran’s confirmation that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US–Israeli strikes.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the consulate on Sunday morning, with some attempting to storm the compound and vandalizing property, according to footage circulating on social media and international news reports.
Videos showed protesters armed with sticks smashing doors and windows. Separate footage appeared to show property inside the consulate premises set on fire, prompting police to fire tear gas at them. Additional Inspector General Karachi Azad Khan told reporters that miscreants managed to enter the consulate from the outer gate before police dispersed them.
Police officers take position outside US Consulate following protesters stormed the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 1, 2026. (AN photo)
“Ten people are dead while 31 injured are being treated at the Trauma Center in Civil Hospital,” Karachi Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said in a statement.
She said four others injured, including two police constables, are being treated at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center.
Speaking to Arab News, Faisal Edhi, the chairman of Edhi Foundation charity and rescue organization, confirmed over 30 people were injured in the clashes. He said some of the injured were critically wounded, warning that the death toll could increase.
Edhi said protesters were shot by the security personnel from inside the US consulate.
Separately, the Sindh government expressed grief at the loss of lives in the clashes, saying it had constituted a high-level joint investigation committee (JIT) to carry out an impartial investigation into the incident.
“The JIT will determine the circumstances in which the incident occurred and what its causes were,” a statement by the provincial government said, adding that it respects the constitutional right of citizens to protest.
A heavy contingent of police personnel was deployed around the Red Zone in Karachi after the protest, with roads leading to the Chief Minister’s House sealed.
The violence came hours after Iranian authorities confirmed Khamenei was killed in coordinated strikes carried out by the United States and Israel, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and triggering protests in several countries.
Smoke billows over building in Skardu, Pakistan, on March 1, 2026, as protesters set UN office in district on fire. (Social media)
PROTESTS SPREAD
Demonstrations were also reported in Skardu, in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, where hundreds of people staged a sit-in on a main road to protest Khamenei’s killing.
Shabbir Mir, spokesperson for the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister, told Arab News that a United Nations office in the district had been set on fire.
“The protesters have torched an UN office in Skardu,” Mir confirmed.
Separately, the Islamabad district administration imposed a ban on public gatherings in the city via Section 144.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows authorities to impose different kinds of restrictions to maintain public order and safety.
“Strict legal action will be taken in the event of any protest, demonstration or gathering,” the administration warned in a statement.
The unrest in Pakistan follows a sharp escalation in the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes in Iran on Saturday.
According to US officials, the operation targeted Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The US military said it suffered no casualties and reported minimal damage to its bases despite what it described as “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israeli ally UAE said its air defense systems intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles and drones, but debris from the interceptions caused material damage in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and at least one civilian, including a Pakistani national, was killed.
The UAE government condemned the strikes as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law,” and issued rare emergency alerts urging residents to seek shelter, underscoring how the conflict has rippled far beyond Iran’s borders.
The Israeli military said dozens of Iranian missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, many of which were intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in a missile strike.
