The Taliban deputy minister of foreign affairs said Monday that their forces had crossed the border into Pakistan and were engaged in what he described as “intense fighting” with Pakistani troops.
Mohammad Naeem Wardak wrote on X that clashes were underway at what he called Pakistani military bases across the border.
“If the war continues for long and we decide to, we can make significant advances inside Pakistani territory,” he wrote.
Pakistani officials have not commented on the claim.
The statement came as cross-border clashes and airstrikes entered a fifth day on Monday. Kabul residents, particularly those living near the Kabul Airport, said Pakistani aircraft struck parts of the capital for a fourth consecutive night on Sunday, March 1, with explosions and aerial patrols continuing until morning.
One Kabul resident said that while most of the recent strikes had taken place at night, heavy attacks were also reported Monday morning. “In the past few nights the planes came after dark,” she said. “But this morning the explosions were heavy as well.”
Pakistani forces have used fighter jets and drones to target sites in several provinces, including Kabul, according to local accounts.
Residents and sources have also reported strikes on Taliban military facilities and Bagram Air Base.
Taliban have said that in fighting Saturday night, 32 Pakistani soldiers were killed and several border posts seized. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, offered a starkly different account, claiming that Pakistani forces had struck 46 targets inside Afghanistan and killed 415 Taliban fighters, wounding 580 others.
In a post on X, Tarar also claimed that 182 Taliban posts had been destroyed and 31 captured by Pakistani forces, and that 185 Taliban tanks, military vehicles and other pieces of equipment had been destroyed.
