A brief history of Afghan-Pak conflicts
Afghanistan’s frontier remains the stage for regional ambitions from the “Great Game” to modern proxy wars. The ghosts of the past once again shake the region’s peace
On 9 October 2025, Pakistan launched an air strike in Kabul targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Noor Wali Mehsud, in response to a TTP assault in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Afghanistan retaliated within hours, leaving 23 Pakistani soldiers, 9 Afghan troops, and 37 civilians dead, with more than 400 injured.
A ceasefire followed but peace was short-lived. By 8 November, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that talks with Islamabad had collapsed, citing Pakistan's demand that Afghanistan take responsibility for its internal security, a condition he called beyond Kabul's "capacity."
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif blamed Afghanistan's inaction against the TTP for the breakdown, saying the ceasefire would hold only if no further attacks came from Afghan soil.
This failed talks mark yet another tense episode in the two nations' long but fraught relationship.
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The roots
Afghanistan's fate has long been defined by its geography. Located in Central, South and West Asia, it has been called both a "land bridge" and the "graveyard of empires".
In 1947, when Britain's withdrawal from India created two new states: a secular India and an Islamic Pakistan. Afghanistan was the only country to vote against Pakistan's admission to the United Nations, refusing to recognise the Durand Line as an international boundary. The border cut through ethnic Pashtun territory, and Kabul's calls for a "Pashtunistan" sowed mistrust from the outset.
That mistrust soon turned to gunfire. In September 1950, the Dobandi border clash broke out when Afghan tribesmen and troops reportedly crossed into Pakistan's Balochistan. The fighting lasted six days before Pakistan repelled the incursion, defending its Chaman-Quetta railway link. Though casualty figures remain unclear, it was an early warning that this border would never be quiet.
The 1960–61 Bajaur Campaign was even bloodier. Afghan forces, attempting to spark a Pashtun uprising, launched incursions into Pakistan's tribal belt. Pakistan's air force bombed Afghan positions, prompting a full diplomatic rupture between the two neighbours. Pakistan declared victory; its tribal fighters and army had pushed back the invaders. For Kabul, it was a humiliation; for Islamabad, a vindication of its new army's strength.
Cold War era
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 turned the frontier into the centre of global rivalry. Pakistan became the key conduit for US, Saudi, and Chinese support to the Mujahideen, who resisted the Soviet-backed Afghan regime.
But this came at a high price. Soviet and Afghan airstrikes regularly violated Pakistani territory. By 1987, more than 300 border casualties were reported in a single year, and hundreds of Pakistani civilians and soldiers were killed by shelling and raids.
Yet Islamabad's strategy paid off when the Soviets withdrew in 1989. For Pakistan, Afghanistan had always represented more than a neighbour; it was "strategic depth" against India. The fall of the Soviet-backed regime in 1992 and the rise of the Taliban in 1996 gave Pakistan its wish: a friendly government in Kabul.
Taliban years
The Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001 gave Pakistan influence but also led to global isolation. The 9/11 attacks changed everything. The US invasion of Afghanistan ousted the Taliban, and Pakistan, under international pressure, became Washington's ally in the "war on terror." Yet the same porous border that once supplied the Mujahideen now allowed Taliban and TTP fighters to move freely.
Between 2007 and 2021, repeated clashes erupted along the frontier. Skirmishes in 2007 left 13 Afghan and three Pakistani casualties, while a 2011 firefight killed one Pakistani and seven Afghan soldiers. These were not wars, but they reflected deep mutual suspicion. Both sides accused the other of harbouring militants; both denied it.
When the Afghan Taliban retook Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan hoped for renewed cooperation. Instead, it found itself battling the TTP's resurgence.
By December 2024, relations had deteriorated sharply. After a TTP attack killed 16 Pakistani security personnel, Pakistan launched air strikes in Afghanistan's Paktika and Khost provinces, killing 46 Afghans, including civilians. The Taliban condemned the strikes as a "violation of sovereignty".
In October 2025, the cycle of retaliation began again. Following Pakistan's air strike on Kabul, ground clashes left dozens of soldiers dead and hundreds of civilians wounded. Each side claimed victory; neither gained anything lasting.
Negotiations failed due to Islamabad's insistence that Afghanistan assume responsibility for Pakistan's internal security. The ceasefire that has been established has not been violated by us so far, and it will continue to be observed.
By September 2025, Pakistan's military had grown and was supported by a mutual defence pact signed with Saudi Arabia. The agreement declared, "Any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both."
Weeks earlier, the US had signalled renewed interest in Afghanistan when former President Donald Trump called for regaining control of Bagram Air Base. Thus Pakistan felt secure enough to strike into Afghan territory.
But geopolitics could not mask the old reality: Afghanistan remained the fault line of regional ambitions.
Weight of geography
Afghanistan's enduring tragedy is in its geography. Its mountains have stopped empires yet invited their armies. It sits atop untapped mineral wealth and astride routes that could connect Central Asia's gas reserves to South Asia's growing markets. But instability has turned that potential into peril.
Afghanistan's internal turmoil still goes outward: refugees flood across borders, militant groups exploit porous frontiers, and economic projects stall. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other regional connectivity plans depend, directly or indirectly, on Afghan stability.
The "Great Game" between the British and Russians in the 19th century made Afghanistan a buffer zone. The Cold War turned it into a battlefield of ideology. Now, the players have changed: China, the US, Iran, and Russia all fight for influence, but the terrain remains the same.
Despite the ceasefire declared in Doha and reaffirmed in Istanbul, few believe the calm will last. The Taliban insist the TTP is not tolerated in Afghanistan; Pakistan says otherwise. The truth lies somewhere in the rugged hills that defy both governments' control.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Baku, he hoped the talks would "yield results toward lasting stability".
Seventy-eight years after the first Afghan-Pakistani clash, the two nations remain trapped in the same geography and the same grievances. The battlefield has changed, but the questions have not.
Who controls the frontier? And how long can a line drawn in 1893 continue to define the fate of millions on both sides?
