Pakistan’s presidential spokesman Murtaza Solangi said the “illegitimate Afghan Taliban regime” is trying to damage Pakistan’s image as a supporter of global peace by backing terrorism from its territory to win the favour of India and Israel.
In an apparent reference to the Afghan Taliban, Solangi warned that Pakistan would not only send “terrorists to the hell where they belong” but would also ensure the same fate for those who support and finance them.
He added that the Taliban appeared to believe Pakistan would take no action or that “their patrons will protect them.”
Solangi said Islamabad would defeat “terrorists” while continuing to fulfil its role as a country committed to promoting global peace.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed deep concern over the recent clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban, calling for an immediate end to hostilities and the protection of civilians.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres had urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their differences through diplomacy. He also stressed that all parties must comply with international humanitarian law and ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure under all circumstances.
Referring to a statement by UNAMA, Dujarric said Pakistan’s airstrikes on the provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar had killed and injured a significant number of civilians.
He added that the attacks had also displaced residents from the affected areas and that UN humanitarian agencies were assessing their needs and preparing to provide emergency assistance.
Pakistan said on Monday that it had targeted militant hideouts inside Afghanistan in response to several terrorist attacks on its territory. The Taliban, however, said the strikes had killed dozens of civilians.
Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have become increasingly strained in recent years amid a rise in militant attacks and border clashes. Islamabad accuses the Taliban of allowing armed groups to operate from Afghan territory, an allegation the Taliban deny.
United Nations has confirmed that at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 others wounded in Pakistani air strikes on Paktia, Paktika and Kunar on Sunday evening. Women and children were among the casualties.
In a statement on Monday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the figures were preliminary and could rise as injured people continued to receive treatment in hospitals.
According to the statement, an air strike at around 11:30pm local time in Paktia’s Samkani district killed at least 22 civilians and wounded 47 others.
The statement said another air strike in Paktika’s Gayan district killed six civilians at about the same time. A third strike in Kunar’s Marawara district wounded two children.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry has also confirmed that the country’s security forces carried out air strikes in the three Afghan provinces.
UNAMA said verification of the incidents was continuing and stressed the need to observe the principles of international humanitarian law, including precaution, distinction between military and civilian targets, and proportionality in the use of force to protect civilians.
Earlier, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Afghanistan International that at least “36 civilians” were killed in Pakistani attacks on the three Afghan provinces. He said women and children were among those killed and that 163 others were wounded.
The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Kabul following Pakistan’s airstrikes overnight.
In a statement, the ministry said it had conveyed its strong and unequivocal protest over what it described as violations of Afghanistan’s airspace and the bombing of civilian homes in the provinces of Kunar, Paktia and Paktika.
The statement said the “Pakistan's invading military regime” had killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and injured another 163 people in the attacks.
The Taliban described the strikes as a clear violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and a crime against humanity. Stressing its responsibility to defend Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, the Foreign Ministry warned Islamabad to address its own internal problems instead of pursuing what it called proxy policies.
The statement added that this was not the first time the Pakistani military regime had blamed Afghanistan for incidents that occurred in heavily secured cities and areas hundreds of kilometres from the Afghan border.
The Foreign Ministry said Pakistan had attributed bombings and attacks to Afghanistan without presenting any credible evidence. According to the ministry, Pakistan has repeatedly made baseless accusations against Afghanistan in recent years to conceal its security and political failures, while using military force to shift blame for its domestic problems.
The Taliban added that such an approach would not resolve any issues and would instead damage bilateral relations as well as regional security and stability.
Kabul residents reported hearing an explosion on Monday, followed by a fire and thick smoke rising over the capital. The cause and nature of the blast remain unknown.
Images received show a column of dense smoke.
Taliban officials have not yet commented on the incident.
Many Kabul residents said the explosion and fire occurred in the Parwan-e-Seh area, within the capital’s fourth police district.
This is a developing story.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has issued new instructions to provincial authorities and security agencies to detain undocumented Afghan nationals. Under the directive, Afghans without valid visas will be arrested immediately from 10 July.
According to Dawn newspaper, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said Afghan nationals residing in the country without valid visas will face immediate arrest from July 10.
The ministry has circulated the directive to provincial authorities and security agencies, calling for the strict and coordinated implementation of its plan to deport undocumented migrants.
Under the instructions, provincial governors, local administrations, police and other law enforcement agencies have been ordered to ensure the effective and uniform enforcement of the policy.
Security agencies have also been instructed to submit daily reports to the Interior Ministry detailing the number of Afghan nationals without valid visas, the actions taken against them and their current status. The directive states that the matter must be treated as a top priority and implemented in full.
Large numbers of Afghans fled to Pakistan after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan’s deportation campaign, first launched in 2023, resumed in April last year after the government revoked the residence permits of hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals and warned they would face arrest if they failed to leave the country.
According to figures presented to the Standing Committee of Pakistan’s Senate, the country deported more than 1.15 million Afghan nationals last year alone.
The developments come amid escalating border tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, which have increasingly developed into open confrontation in recent months.