Pakistan's Information Ministry on Wednesday, 28 October, rejected the Taliban Defence Ministry's account of clashes in Angoor Adda, calling it fabricated. Both sides have accused each other of starting the fighting and offered conflicting accounts of the incident.
In a statement, Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said Taliban forces had opened fire on Pakistani military posts and residential areas in Lower South Waziristan on Tuesday, 27 October, without provocation.
According to the ministry, one civilian was killed and five others were wounded in the incident.
The Taliban's Defence Ministry had earlier claimed that Pakistan used drones to target the Angoor Adda market and a civilian office in Paktika province without provocation or justification. The ministry said Taliban forces responded by attacking a Pakistani military base and nearby border posts.
Responding to these allegations, Pakistan's Information Ministry said Taliban forces had initiated the gunfire and mortar shelling against unarmed civilians on Pakistani territory.
The ministry also claimed that Pakistani forces responded immediately, inflicting heavy casualties and material losses on Taliban forces and destroying seven of their border posts.
Without providing independent evidence, Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting further alleged that the Taliban forces' actions followed a pattern of behaviour and instructions from India.
Faisal Karim Kundi, governor of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also condemned the firing from Afghanistan, saying Pakistan would not tolerate attacks on its citizens or violations of its sovereignty.
According to Pakistani officials, the firing originated from posts inside Afghanistan, with Pakistani troops targeted by both light and heavy weapons. Pakistani sources said the army responded by targeting several Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive fortifications using light and heavy weapons, including artillery.
Angoor Adda is one of the most important and sensitive border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, serving as a key route for trade and the movement of people between the two countries.
Tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban administration have increased in recent years, particularly over the presence of armed groups in Afghanistan and attacks inside Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly demanded that the Taliban dismantle Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) safe havens in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say these demands have so far produced no results.
In recent months, both sides have repeatedly accused each other of launching cross-border attacks. Pakistan also carried out air strikes in September and early October against what it described as terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan. The Taliban administration condemned the strikes as violations of Afghanistan's sovereignty.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new report on drug cultivation and production in Afghanistan. Published on Thursday, 29 October, it says opium production reached nearly 1,500 tons in 2026, around five times the previous year's level.
According to figures presented in the report, Afghanistan's total opium production increased from approximately 300 tones in 2025 to nearly 1,500 tons in 2026. The rise was driven by both an expansion in cultivation and higher crop yields resulting from improved rainfall conditions.
According to UNODC, Afghanistan's drug ban appears to have weakened in 2026.
Although cultivation remains below pre-ban levels, the area under poppy cultivation increased sharply from around 10,000 hectares in 2025 to more than 43,000 hectares in 2026.
The report found that poppies are now cultivated in 16 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, five more than last year. Around 76% of the country's total opium poppy cultivation area is concentrated in the northeast, particularly in Badakhshan province.
The report added that, following this increase, total revenue from the sale of harvested opium to traders reached approximately $525 million in 2026, equivalent to around 2.7% of Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP) or 8.5% of its agricultural sector.
Average regional prices for dried opium declined from the previous year to approximately $500 per kilogram, but remained significantly higher than pre-ban levels of less than $100 per kilogram.
According to the UN findings, farmers have adopted concealment strategies to reduce the risk of detection and eradication. These include growing poppies among cereal crops such as wheat and barley, cultivating fields enclosed by compound walls, and staggering planting and harvesting periods.
In Helmand, for example, more than 90% of poppy fields were reportedly concealed.
The report also noted that significant price differences between regions, including lower prices in the northeast and higher prices in the southwest, could strengthen the domestic illicit drug market and increase incentives for internal trafficking.
The assessment further indicated that opium stockpiles accumulated before the ban were running low. Continuing economic difficulties and the lack of suitable alternative livelihoods could increase the risk of sustained or expanded poppy cultivation in the coming years.
Taliban Claims Progress in Combating Drugs
The Taliban's Foreign Ministry held an event in Kabul on Tuesday, 27 October, highlighting what it described as its achievements in combating drugs. The gathering, attended by ambassadors and diplomats from several countries, featured Taliban claims of progress in controlling narcotics in Afghanistan.
Abdul Rahman Munir, the Taliban Interior Ministry's deputy minister for counter-narcotics, said authorities had conducted 25,116 anti-drug operations in 2026.
According to Munir, the operations resulted in the destruction of 26,500 hectares of land used to cultivate opium poppies and cannabis, as well as the arrest of 10,065 suspects.
He added that authorities had discovered and shut down 301 drug-processing laboratories, two factories producing chemical tablets and 15 alcohol-production facilities.
The Taliban official also emphasised the importance of creating alternative livelihoods for farmers and supporting the cultivation of legal agricultural products.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the gathering that widespread drug cultivation and trafficking in countries neighbouring Afghanistan had become a serious concern for the group.
Without naming any specific country, Muttaqi stressed that combating narcotics required international attention and that cooperation in this area should not be politicised.
In recent years, Taliban officials have repeatedly claimed significant reductions in poppy cultivation and drug trafficking in Afghanistan.
However, concerns over regional drug trafficking persist. Russia is among the countries that have expressed concern about the consequences of narcotics trafficking originating from Afghanistan.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the repression of women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan was intensifying, with severe restrictions imposed on them. He also stressed the importance of supporting local women-led organisations in the country.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on women, peace and security on Tuesday, 27 October, Guterres named Afghanistan alongside Mali, Yemen and Somalia as countries where women and girls face severe restrictions and increasing repression of their rights.
The UN chief said women and girls continued to face violence, discrimination, deprivation and abuse. He added that girls were being denied education, a fundamental right, while women politicians, journalists and human rights defenders were being marginalised and targeted.
Guterres cited support for local women-led organisations in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria as part of the United Nations' efforts to advance the women, peace and security agenda.
He warned that funding cuts had worsened conditions for women and girls, forcing some women's organisations to suspend their activities. According to Guterres, the closure of clinics and safe spaces, along with the loss of vital humanitarian assistance, were among the consequences of reduced funding.
The UN secretary-general said that while global military spending had reached nearly $2.9 trillion last year, humanitarian assistance continued to decline sharply.
He urged countries to honour their development aid commitments and immediately restore funding for organisations supporting women and girls in conflict-affected areas.
Criticising the gap between international commitments and action, Guterres said that 26 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, there had often been plenty of words, but not enough action.
He stressed that women's participation in peace processes was not merely symbolic and that their meaningful involvement increased the likelihood of achieving lasting peace. According to Guterres, societies become stronger when women and girls can live free from fear and violence.
Guterres said women accounted for just 5% of negotiators across 57 peace processes last year, while fewer than one in five peace agreements contained at least one reference to women, girls, gender or sexual violence. He described the gap between commitments and implementation as unacceptable.
The UN chief called for binding targets and quotas for women's participation, stressing that their needs and demands must be reflected in all negotiations, ceasefires and peace agreements.
He also said the number of conflict-related sexual violence cases verified by the United Nations had exceeded 9,700 last year, adding that the actual figure was undoubtedly higher.
Guterres identified women's participation at every peace negotiating table, increased funding and efforts to combat violence against women and girls as three urgent priorities. He also called for full accountability for perpetrators of violence.
He urged countries to incorporate their commitments on women, peace and security into national laws and policies and to ensure women's economic security.
"Equality is not a dream. It is a decision," Guterres said.
Pakistani officials said the army destroyed several Taliban border posts after a shell struck a house in Angoor Adda, South Waziristan, killing one civilian. Five other members of the family were wounded, according to the officials.
The Associated Press reported that Taliban forces had fired mortar shells at residential areas and the market in Angoor Adda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to the report, one of the shells struck a house, killing one person and wounding five other family members. Several shops in the local market were also damaged.
Samar Haroon Bilour, a local official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wrote on X on Tuesday, citing security sources, that Taliban forces had targeted residential areas in Angoor Adda. She said the attack had sparked anger among local residents and prompted the Pakistani army to destroy several Taliban border posts in a retaliatory operation.
A local official in South Waziristan also said Taliban forces had opened fire on civilian homes and shops in the Angoor Adda market without provocation.
According to the official, Pakistani forces stationed along the border responded to the attacks strongly and effectively.
Faisal Karim Kundi, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the attack on residential areas and the Angoor Adda market, describing it as unprovoked aggression by the Taliban.
Pakistani officials also said the country's border forces remained on high alert and were prepared to respond to any further attacks.
The Taliban has not yet commented on the clashes or Pakistan's claim that its border posts were destroyed. It remains unclear what triggered the exchange of fire between the two sides.
The clashes occurred days after Islamabad renewed its demand that the Taliban take concrete action against armed groups that Pakistan says use Afghan territory to launch attacks.
Border tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban have escalated in recent months, with the two sides repeatedly clashing along the frontier.
Pakistan has also carried out several air strikes inside Afghanistan this year, saying the operations targeted positions belonging to armed groups operating in Pakistan.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban of sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The TTP is a separate organisation from the Afghan Taliban, although the two groups maintain close ties.
The Taliban has rejected these allegations, saying it does not allow Afghan territory to be used against other countries. The group also maintains that insecurity in Pakistan is an internal matter.
The Taliban's Interior Ministry says satellite imagery has identified 26,800 hectares of land used for drug cultivation across Afghanistan in 2026, with the crops subsequently destroyed.
Abdul Rahman Munir, the Taliban's deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, said improved security and the group's efforts to combat drugs had contributed to a decline in narcotics cultivation and production.
Meanwhile, Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the Taliban's Interior Ministry, said most narcotics, including traditional and synthetic drugs, were being smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan through border crossings.
Qani called on Islamabad to fulfil its responsibilities in preventing drug trafficking.
He stressed that counter-narcotics operations must continue and called for greater attention to security at Afghanistan's customs facilities and borders to prevent drug smuggling.
He also urged the international community to increase cooperation in combating narcotics, saying efforts to tackle drug trafficking could not be fully effective without regional and international support.
Munir said expanding alternative crops and supporting farmers could play a significant role in preventing a resurgence of poppy cultivation.
He added that providing sustainable livelihoods for farmers was essential to the success of counter-narcotics efforts.
The Taliban has banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, and its officials have repeatedly claimed a sharp decline in opium production since the ban was introduced.
In a report published in June 2026, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Afghanistan had produced around 80 percent of the world's illicit opium until 2022, but production had fallen by 95 precent following the Taliban's enforcement of the poppy cultivation ban.
According to the UN report, the area under poppy cultivation declined from approximately 232,000 hectares in 2022 to 10,200 hectares in 2025, while opium production fell from 6,200 tonnes to around 296 tonnes.
However, the UN warned that existing opium stockpiles in Afghanistan were expected to last until the end of 2026.
Elisenda Calvet, a judge at the People's Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan, has warned that European governments' diplomatic engagement with the Taliban could legitimise the group.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El País, she said Afghan women's greatest concern was that the world would gradually become accustomed to Taliban rule.
Calvet said: I am concerned that, over time, the system of oppression against women will become normalised, a system in which the repression of women has reached such extremes that I have not witnessed anything comparable anywhere else in the world.
She noted that officially inviting Taliban representatives to Brussels for technical talks contradicted the European Union's position of not recognising the Taliban government and could contribute to normalising relations with the group.
The legal expert stressed that the international community must not forget that millions of women in Afghanistan continue to face severe restrictions and should be given opportunities to express their demands and share their experiences.
Referring to negotiations on a future convention on crimes against humanity, Calvet said the process provided an opportunity to include gender apartheid among internationally recognised crimes.
She explained that although such provisions would probably not apply retrospectively, formally recognising the offence could strengthen other efforts to secure justice and prosecute those responsible.
The legal expert also stressed that Afghanistan's neighbouring countries and Muslim-majority nations had a responsibility to speak out against Taliban policies and make clear that the group's actions did not represent Islam or Sharia law.
The People's Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan is a civil society initiative established to examine violations of the rights of Afghan women and girls. It was held in Madrid in 2025.
The tribunal aims to draw international attention to the systematic oppression of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule, document crimes against humanity, particularly gender-based discrimination and persecution, and increase international pressure to hold the Taliban accountable.