UN says Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan killed 13 civilians

Pakistan’s latest airstrikes across the Afghanistan border left 13 civilians dead and 10 more wounded, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said, intensifying fears that a fragile lull between the two neighbors has collapsed again. Afghan officials said the dead included 11 children, one woman and one man, with strikes hitting homes and other civilian sites in Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces.

Pakistan described the overnight strikes between Tuesday and Wednesday as “precise and calibrated,” saying they targeted militant infrastructure and destroyed four locations, including a training center, a hideout, an ammunition cache and a facility tied to militant commanders. Pakistani officials said 26 militants were killed. The Taliban government, however, said the strikes hit civilian homes, and residents in the area described a home being struck.

The attack lands in the middle of a bitter dispute over militancy along the frontier. Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities of allowing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, fighters to operate from Afghan territory and stage attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies that charge. The violence followed about a month of relative calm along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, after renewed fighting had already defied international mediation efforts and sharpened anxiety in both countries’ border regions, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

UNAMA said it continued to verify civilian casualties from cross-border armed clashes and airstrikes, and called for de-escalation, a durable ceasefire, protection of civilians, reopening of border crossings for humanitarian assistance and dialogue to resolve differences. Volker Türk also appealed for talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan amid the border clashes and deadly airstrikes.

The broader toll has been severe. UN reporting cited by media outlets said at least 372 Afghan civilians were killed and nearly 400 injured in cross-border violence between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the first three months of 2026. In a separate UN update, UNAMA said 13 civilians were killed and 12 injured in airstrikes and cross-border shelling in Nangarhar province between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22. For communities on both sides of the frontier, the latest strike underscored how quickly counterterrorism claims can turn into another round of civilian suffering.