Two senior members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group have been killed in unprecedented Pakistani drone strikes in the Afghan capital, sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, marking a major escalation of tensions between the two side.
The target of the strikes in Kabul late on October 9 was Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the TTP, which is also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a Pakistani security official and a member of the TTP said.
It was not clear if Mehsud was killed in the strikes. A TTP source said the militant leader was alive but two “important” members of the group were killed, without disclosing their names.
Longtime allies, the sides have fallen out over the Afghan Taliban’s alleged sheltering of the TTP, which has waged a deadly insurgency against Islamabad for years. The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as international troops left Afghanistan.
The attacks in Kabul were followed by suspected Pakistani air strikes in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, which borders Pakistan, early October 10.
Witnesses said a market selling second-hand weapons, a shop selling computers, and a restaurant were hit. No casualties were reported.
In a statement issued on October 10, the Taliban’s Defense Ministry condemned what it said were Pakistani air strikes in Paktika and Islamabad’s violation of “Kabul’s sovereign territory.”
Pakistan’s military spokesman, in a televised press conference on October 10, did not directly respond when asked if Islamabad was responsible for the attacks.
“To safeguard Pakistani lives and properties, what measures need to be taken will be taken,” General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters.
The attacks inside Afghanistan came two days after the TTP killed 11 Pakistani security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, in an assault in northwestern Pakistan.
‘Huge Escalation’
Former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad posted on X that “Pakistani strikes against Afghanistan’s capital are a huge escalation and pose dangerous risks.”
Khalilzad added that “military escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan is not the answer. It is unlikely to work and will increase death and destruction in both countries.”
The strikes coincide with a groundbreaking trip by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India, Pakistan’s archenemy.
Muttaqi arrived in New Delhi on October 10 for a week of talks, in the Taliban’s highest-level visit to the country since the hard-line Islamist group took power.
During the first day of talks between Taliban and Indian officials, New Delhi announced it was upgrading its mission in Kabul to a full embassy. The sides were also expected to discuss trade and economic ties.
The Taliban’s outreach to India as well as the TTP’s increasing attacks in Pakistan is “taking the situation towards a very serious level,” said Mansoor Mehsud, director of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Center.
“Pakistan will react more seriously, and this will make the situation dangerous,” he said.
