Pakistan says it hit Afghan border posts in South Waziristan as army spokesman blames India

Pakistani forces fired on "multiple Afghan border posts, mortar positions, and defensive checkpoints" in Lower South Waziristan on Sunday night after what local officials called unprovoked firing from the Afghan side, Dawn reported, citing the district's deputy commissioner. It is the latest in a string of clashes along the frontier in the past week, as talks between Islamabad and Afghanistan's Taliban government have broken down.

Hours earlier, Pakistani state media circulated remarks by the military's chief spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, calling India the "prime contractor" of terrorism in Pakistan and describing the Afghan Taliban as an Indian "proxy", according to Dawn. India rejects such charges, and its Ministry of External Affairs had not commented by early Monday. The Taliban had not responded publicly to either the firing or the remarks.

What happened

The deputy commissioner of Lower South Waziristan, in a post on X, said: "Unprovoked firing from Afghan border posts onto Pakistani border checkpoints continues." The office said Pakistani forces had responded, that the Afghan Taliban "were forced to abandon their posts and flee", and that Pakistani forces "remain prepared to deliver a full response to any kind of aggression". No casualties were reported on the Pakistani side. Dawn said the military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), had not commented by late Sunday night.

The Declaration could not independently verify the account, and there was no Afghan version of Sunday's exchange by the time of writing. Afghan officials have in recent days accused Pakistan of drone strikes in Paktika province, a charge Islamabad has not addressed.

Sunday's firing follows a clash at Angoor Adda on Tuesday, in which Pakistani officials say firing from Afghan posts killed one resident and wounded five members of a family, and skirmishes on Friday near South Waziristan and Parachinar, where state media, citing security sources, said several Taliban posts were destroyed.

What the army spokesman said

Lt Gen Chaudhry's remarks, shared by Radio Pakistan on Sunday, came from an interview he gave to an international news agency on Friday, Dawn reported. He said Pakistan was "much ahead" of both India and the Taliban in operational readiness, calling the Pakistani military "a technology-savvy army", and said he was not greatly worried about drones launched from Afghanistan.

He described India as the "biggest terror sponsor" and said: "In the case of Pakistan, the prime contractor is India." He said Afghanistan was "not a state" but a regime "still being run by a non-state actor", and that "it has only two products: terrorism and drugs", Dawn reported. He dismissed Taliban claims to have captured a Pakistani pilot and Pakistani tanks.

Pakistan's military has made similar accusations against India before, which New Delhi has consistently denied. The Taliban have also rejected Pakistan's claim that they act for India.

Background

Islamabad accuses the Taliban of sheltering the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other armed groups that attack its security forces, mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Kabul denies that its territory is used against Pakistan.

Relations collapsed into open fighting earlier this year. After Pakistani air strikes on 21 February on what its Information Ministry called militant camps in Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, the Taliban launched what they called a retaliatory operation, and Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an "open war". Rounds of talks hosted by Qatar and Türkiye in 2025 and efforts involving China this year produced no lasting settlement, Pakistan Today reported. In September, after a suicide attack inside Pakistan, Pakistan carried out what it called calibrated air strikes in border areas, followed by drone incursions and further retaliatory strikes.

The diplomatic track has now stalled. On Saturday Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement that "terrorism is a red line" and that "the Taliban regime's persistent refusal to address terrorism remains the principal obstacle to normal relations", Pakistan Today reported. That was a reply to the Taliban's chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, who told Hurriyat Radio that "Pakistan does not want to resolve the conflict with Afghanistan through talks".

What they are saying

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking after the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Saturday, said: "If there's a productive role for us to play, we would play it." He said Washington had heard Pakistan's concerns and had "seen some of those attacks that they point to", adding that the US was "against terrorism no matter where it emanates from and who it targets", Dawn reported.

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson, Sajjad Haider Khan, has said talks with Kabul cannot be unconditional, and that he was not aware of any formal Russian mediation offer under discussion. Moscow has said it is willing to help if both sides ask.

The Taliban, for their part, blame what Mujahid has called Islamabad's "wrong policies" for the impasse and deny that Afghanistan is the source of Pakistan's security problems.

Why it matters for India

The accusation against India comes as New Delhi has steadily expanded ties with the Taliban administration, including hosting its foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in October 2025 and restoring a fuller diplomatic presence in Kabul. In September, India's Ministry of External Affairs criticised Pakistani strikes on Afghanistan.

A prolonged Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict on India's western flank, with Islamabad publicly linking it to India, raises the temperature in a relationship that has been frozen since the May 2025 conflict between India and Pakistan, which Lt Gen Chaudhry also referred to. It also comes as Pakistan acts as one of the mediators between the United States and Iran, raising its profile in Washington, and as the US signals it may play a role between Islamabad and Kabul.

What happens next

Neither side has announced new talks. ISPR may issue its own account of Sunday's firing. Pakistan has said it reserves the right to take "all necessary measures" against threats from Afghan soil, and further cross-border exchanges remain likely while the diplomatic track is stalled.

Timeline

• 21 February: Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan; Pakistan's defence minister later declares "open war"
• September: suicide attack in Pakistan, followed by Pakistani air strikes in border areas
• 27 October: firing at Angoor Adda; Pakistani officials say one resident killed, five wounded
• 30 October: border skirmishes near South Waziristan and Parachinar, state media say
• 31 October: Pakistan calls terrorism a "red line"; Taliban say talks failed; Rubio offers US role
• 1 November: firing in Lower South Waziristan; Pakistani military spokesman's remarks on India circulated