Pakistan Launches Airstrikes Inside Afghanistan After Deadly Kohat Attack

ISLAMABAD / KABUL, — September 21, 2026 — Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan early Monday, targeting locations in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Paktika, according to Pakistani officials and Afghan authorities. The strikes marked the first publicly reported Pakistani air operations inside Afghanistan in nearly three months. (Reuters)

Afghan officials said a residential house in Nurgal district of Kunar was hit before dawn. Taliban officials reported that three members of one family were killed and four others were wounded. Reuters separately reported that Afghan officials said three civilians were killed in the strikes. (Reuters)

In Paktika, local Afghan officials said Pakistani aircraft struck two locations in Barmal district. A shop and an unoccupied house were reportedly destroyed, with no casualties immediately reported there. (Amu TV)

Pakistan's government said its strikes killed at least 28 militants. The Pakistani military had not immediately issued a separate public statement confirming the figure, while Afghan authorities disputed the account and reported civilian casualties. (Reuters)

The strikes came days after a deadly attack on a police facility in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistani authorities said the attack killed more than 20 people, while Pakistan has accused militants operating from Afghanistan of carrying out attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban government denies allowing Afghan territory to be used for attacks against Pakistan. (Reuters)

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes and said Afghanistan would respond. The latest attacks have raised tensions between Islamabad and Kabul after a period of relative calm following earlier fighting and airstrikes along the border. (Reuters)

The casualty figures and competing accounts of the targets have not been independently verified. Afghan media, including Amu TV, published images of a house damaged in Monday's strike in Kunar, while Reuters distributed same-day mobile-phone photographs showing victims being moved before burial. (Amu TV)