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Blasts heard in Kabul amid clashes between Afghanistan, Pakistani forces

March 01, 2026 6 min read International Relations Internal Security GS Paper 2 (International Relations India's neighbourhood) GS Paper 3 (Internal Security)
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What Happened

  • Explosions were reported in Kabul as Afghan Taliban forces and Pakistani military engaged in direct armed clashes, with Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid stating the sounds were Afghan forces targeting Pakistani aircraft over the capital.
  • Pakistan had launched Operation Ghazab Lil Haq ("Righteous Fury") on February 27, 2026 — striking Taliban brigade headquarters, weapons depots, and border installations in Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia province.
  • Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared the countries were in "open war" — the first such declaration between a nuclear-armed state and a Taliban-governed Afghanistan.
  • The Taliban claimed its forces killed 55 Pakistani troops, destroyed 19 Pakistani posts, and shot down at least one Pakistani aircraft in the initial exchanges; Pakistan claimed 133 Afghan Taliban forces killed.
  • A Qatar-mediated ceasefire agreed in October 2025 had collapsed, and 75 cross-border clashes had occurred between Afghan and Pakistani forces since 2021.

Static Topic Bridges

The Durand Line: A Colonial Border That Neither Side Accepts

The Durand Line, established on November 12, 1893, is the 2,611 km international boundary separating Pakistan from Afghanistan. It was demarcated by Mortimer Durand (British Indian diplomat) and Abdur Rahman Khan (Emir of Afghanistan) as part of the agreement between British India and the Emirate of Afghanistan.

The Durand Line was drawn by British colonial administrators to create a buffer zone between British India and the Russian Empire's sphere of influence — part of the "Great Game" of 19th-century imperial competition. It cuts through the historical Pashtun homeland, dividing ethnic Pashtuns and Baloch communities between the two countries.

No Afghan government has ever formally recognized the Durand Line as an international boundary since Pakistan's independence in 1947. Afghanistan argues that the Durand Agreement was a temporary arrangement between two unequal parties and cannot be binding on a post-independence successor state. Pakistan considers the Durand Line an internationally recognized border.

  • Approximately 40–50 million Pashtuns live on both sides of the Durand Line — in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and FATA (now merged into KPK) region.
  • The Durand Line dispute is the root cause of Afghan-Pakistani antagonism — it underpins Pakistani fears about Afghan irredentism and Pashtun nationalism (Pashtunistan movement).
  • Afghanistan has consistently voted against Pakistan's membership in international organizations in early decades, though this practice has diminished.
  • The Taliban, though Pakistani-supported in its earlier years, has also refused to recognize the Durand Line as a valid international border.

Connection to this news: Pakistan's military strikes on Afghan territory and the Taliban's claim of targeting Pakistani aircraft are the most acute manifestation of the Durand Line dispute — a colonial-era border that has never achieved genuine legitimacy in Afghan eyes, generating perpetual cross-border tensions.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP): The Root Cause of the 2026 Conflict

Pakistan's fundamental grievance with the Afghan Taliban is the latter's refusal to dismantle or meaningfully restrain the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Pakistani Taliban. The TTP is a distinct organization from the Afghan Taliban, though the two share deep ideological, ethnic, and organizational links.

The TTP was established in 2007 as a coalition of militant groups with two core objectives: overthrowing Pakistan's government and establishing an emirate governed by the TTP's interpretation of sharia; and reversing Pakistan's cooperation with the US "War on Terror." The TTP has carried out thousands of attacks in Pakistan, killing tens of thousands of civilians and security personnel.

After the Afghan Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the TTP's operational space expanded significantly — it now operates from Afghan territory with near-impunity, using Afghanistan as a rear base for attacks into Pakistan. Pakistan has documented hundreds of TTP attacks launched from Afghan soil between 2021 and 2026.

  • The TTP ended its ceasefire with Pakistan's government in November 2022 and has intensified attacks since.
  • The Afghan Taliban is unwilling to crack down on TTP partly due to ideological solidarity and partly because TTP fighters could defect to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), a mutual enemy of both the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan.
  • Pakistan had attempted dialogue with TTP multiple times (2022–2025) with Afghan Taliban mediation, but these talks collapsed.
  • Pakistan's Operation Ghazab Lil Haq was directly precipitated by a large-scale TTP ground attack on Pakistani border posts in which Afghan Taliban forces also participated.

Connection to this news: The explosions in Kabul represent the culmination of TTP-driven tensions: Pakistan concluded that the Afghan Taliban was unwilling to restrain TTP and took direct military action against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban's return to power in 2021.

India's Strategic Stakes in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Conflict

India has significant strategic interests in the Afghanistan-Pakistan dynamic, shaped by its longstanding rivalry with Pakistan and its desire to maintain a stable, India-friendly Afghanistan. After the Taliban's return in 2021, India initially withdrew its diplomatic staff but resumed limited engagement with the Taliban government in 2022, reopening its embassy in Kabul.

India's concerns regarding the conflict include: the risk of regional destabilization involving a nuclear-armed Pakistan in a multi-front situation; the potential for the conflict to create additional ungoverned space for anti-India militant groups operating from Afghanistan-Pakistan territory; and the disruption of India's connectivity ambitions through the Chabahar-Afghanistan route.

  • India had significant infrastructure investments in Afghanistan before 2021: the Salma Dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam), the Afghan Parliament building, the Zaranj-Delaram road, and numerous schools and hospitals.
  • India's connectivity to Central Asia via Afghanistan is an alternative to the INSTC (Iran-based route) and does not require Pakistan's cooperation.
  • Pakistan has always tried to prevent India from establishing strategic depth in Afghanistan — Indian influence in Afghanistan is seen by Pakistan's military establishment as a two-front encirclement.
  • The IS-K (Islamic State Khorasan Province), based in Afghanistan, has carried out attacks in Iran, Russia, and other countries — its presence in a conflict-destabilized Afghanistan would concern India.
  • The nuclear dimension: any escalation between Pakistan (declared nuclear state since 1998) and any neighboring country raises nuclear risk concerns that directly affect India.

Connection to this news: The Pakistan-Afghanistan "open war" — occurring simultaneously with the Iran-Israel-US conflict — creates a highly complex security environment on India's western and northwestern strategic horizons, with potential spillover effects on India's own border security and regional connectivity plans.

Key Facts & Data

  • Durand Line: 2,611 km; established November 12, 1893 between British India and Emirate of Afghanistan
  • No Afghan government has recognized the Durand Line since Pakistan's independence in 1947
  • TTP founded 2007; estimated strength in thousands; designated terrorist organization by Pakistan and the US
  • Operation Ghazab Lil Haq ("Righteous Fury"): Pakistan's codename for its February 27, 2026 strikes on Afghan territory
  • Pakistan claimed 133 Afghan Taliban fighters killed; Taliban claimed 55 Pakistani troops killed and 19 posts destroyed
  • UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) confirmed at least 13 civilians killed, 7 injured in the Pakistani strikes
  • 75 cross-border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces recorded since August 2021 (Taliban takeover)
  • A Qatar-mediated ceasefire agreed in October 2025 had broken down by February 2026
  • Pakistan is a declared nuclear state (first test May 28, 1998); Afghanistan has no nuclear weapons
  • IS-K (Islamic State Khorasan Province) — another armed group in the region — is an enemy of both Afghan Taliban and Pakistan
  • India reopened its Kabul embassy in 2022 after initially closing it at the time of Taliban takeover