Afghan Taliban forces targeted “several points” in neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense has said, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out aerial bombardments inside the country.
The statement from the defence ministry on Saturday did not directly specify that Pakistan was hit, but said the attacks were conducted “beyond the ‘hypothetical line’” – an expression used by Afghan authorities to refer to a border with Pakistan that they have long disputed.
“Several points beyond the hypothetical line, serving as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organised and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan, were targeted in retaliation from the southeastern direction of the country,” the ministry said.
Asked whether the statement referred to Pakistan, ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khowarazmi said: “We do not consider it to be the territory of Pakistan, therefore, we cannot confirm the territory, but it was on the other side of the hypothetical line.”
Afghanistan has for decades rejected the border, known as the Durand Line, drawn by British colonial authorities in the 19th century through the mountainous and often lawless tribal belt between what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.
No details of casualties or specific areas targeted were provided. The Pakistani military’s public relations wing and a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, a security source told the AFP news agency on Saturday that at least one Pakistani paramilitary soldier was killed and seven others wounded in cross-border exchanges of fire with Afghan forces.
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