Fighting broke out overnight between Taliban and Pakistani troops along the border in southern Afghanistan, local sources said on Monday, in the latest sign of persistent tensions despite recent diplomatic efforts to ease the conflict.
The clash occurred in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, a key crossing point between the two countries. A source among Taliban ranks in Kandahar said six Pakistani soldiers were killed in the exchange, and one was captured. The body of another soldier was also recovered by Taliban forces, the source said.
Neither Taliban nor Pakistani officials have publicly commented on the incident.
According to the source, the confrontation began late at night after Pakistani forces fired across the border, killing a local child laborer. Taliban then launched what the source described as retaliatory attacks.
The reported clash comes amid heated tensions between Taliban and Pakistan that led to border violence in late February.
The UN has reported that more than 70 civilians were killed in eastern Afghanistan during the first two weeks of the border clashes. In one of the deadliest incidents, Pakistani airstrikes on March 16 struck the Omid rehabilitation center in eastern Kabul, killing 269 civilians, according to UN figures. Pakistani officials have not publicly confirmed those casualty numbers.
The violence has continued despite diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions. Delegations from the Taliban and Pakistan held a week of talks in Urumqi, China, in early April aimed at addressing border security and reducing hostilities. The discussions ended without a clear breakthrough, according to officials familiar with the talks.
A short-term ceasefire was later observed during the Eid holiday, but it did not hold, and sporadic clashes have since resumed.
At the center of the dispute are Pakistani claims that militants from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, are operating from Afghanistan’s territory and carrying out attacks inside Pakistan. Taliban have repeatedly denied the allegations, saying they do not allow any group to use Afghanistan as a base for attacks against other countries.
The situation remains volatile, with both sides exchanging accusations and maintaining military deployments along the frontier.
