Parwan police say Pakistani jets tried to bomb Bagram, Afghan forces say they thwarted attack

Parwan provincial police said several Pakistani military jets entered Afghan airspace and attempted to bomb Bagram Air Base, the sprawling former U.S. facility north of Kabul, and that Afghan forces responded with "anti‑aircraft and missile defense systems" and had managed to thwart the attack. The statement put the incident at around 5 a.m., while local Parwan sources reported powerful explosions late Friday night and said three aircraft had struck the airfield, a discrepancy the authorities have not reconciled.

The claim that Bagram was targeted comes as cross‑border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan stretch into a fourth day, elevating fears of a wider confrontation along a porous frontier where militant groups remain active. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban chief spokesman, confirmed the presence of Pakistani aircraft over Kabul and said Taliban forces had fired "defensive shots at the planes."

Pakistan has not offered an immediate public response to the Bagram allegation. Islamabad has said its aerial campaign is aimed at the outlawed Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which Pakistan accuses of sheltering fighters inside Afghanistan; Afghan authorities reject that charge. Pakistan's information minister has said Pakistan has struck dozens of locations inside Afghanistan and gave large casualty figures for Afghan forces. Afghan officials and the Taliban have issued their own, sharply different tallies, and both sides' claims cannot be independently verified from available reporting.

The casualty figures underscore the escalation. Pakistan's information minister said the campaign had hit 46 locations and asserted hundreds of Afghan soldiers had been killed. Afghan officials have at times reported single‑digit to low double‑digit troop deaths while Taliban claims include much larger Pakistani losses; one Taliban statement claimed 110 Pakistani soldiers killed, a line in local reporting that was truncated in the source material. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif warned that "our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us."

Analysts warn the pattern of strikes this week represents a departure from previous cross‑border operations, noting for the first time Pakistan has focused strikes on Afghan government facilities. That shift carries implications for regional stability and for institutions charged with monitoring and mediating the frontier conflict. Truce and mediation efforts led by regional brokers have so far failed to halt the fighting, and prior ceasefires brokered by third parties collapsed after weeks or months of recurrence.

Bagram, once the United States' largest base in Afghanistan and taken over by the Taliban in 2021, remains strategically and symbolically important. Local sources and rights groups have reported Taliban use of parts of the complex, including detention facilities, since the U.S. withdrawal. The presence of al‑Qaida and Islamic State affiliates in parts of the region adds an international security dimension to what began as a bilateral dispute.

Diplomatic channels reportedly remain active but fragile; Saudi and Qatari mediation was cited in recent days without producing a truce. Independent verification of battlefield claims, damage at Bagram, and casualty totals is currently not possible from publicly available information. Journalists and monitors seeking clarity will need direct access to the Parwan police statement and confirmation from Pakistani military authorities, as well as field verification at Bagram and border hospitals to corroborate the competing tallies.