Afghanistan says 28 fighters killed in Nuristan border clash with Pakistan-linked accusations

Afghanistan says its forces killed 28 fighters in the eastern province of Nuristan after cross-border fighting with a group it says had entered from Pakistan. The Taliban-run Ministry of Defence said the clash took place on Sunday and was confirmed in a statement posted online. Pakistan rejected the allegations and denied any role in the incident.

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The Afghan defence ministry said the fighters crossed the border from Pakistan before the confrontation. It also alleged that most of those killed were former Afghan government security personnel recruited by Pakistan's intelligence services with promises of asylum and paid work abroad. The ministry further claimed that the group included Islamic State fighters supported by Pakistani militias, although no independent verification of those claims was provided in the supplied material.

Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dismissed the accusations as baseless and said its security forces and intelligence agencies were not involved in clashes in Nuristan. It also denied recruiting or training former Afghan security personnel or facilitating Islamic State or other armed groups in Afghanistan. Islamabad said Kabul should take credible action against armed groups operating from Afghan territory and prevent Afghan soil from being used for attacks against Pakistan or any other country.

The incident comes amid a sharp rise in tension between the two neighbours over cross-border violence and allegations of support for armed groups. The latest exchange follows Pakistani air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan last week, which Islamabad said were used to store and launch drones for cross-border attacks. Afghan officials said at least four people were killed in those strikes, while the Taliban government promised an appropriate response.

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The Nuristan clash also follows Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan on 21 September, which Islamabad said killed 28 fighters. Afghan officials said civilians were killed in that operation, and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan later confirmed three civilian deaths. The competing accounts underline how disputed casualty figures and attribution remain central to the wider confrontation between Kabul and Islamabad.

What remains unclear is the exact identity of the fighters killed in Nuristan, whether any independent verification has been carried out, and how the border fighting began. It is also not clear whether the latest incident will trigger further retaliation or diplomatic contact between the two sides. For now, both governments are maintaining sharply different accounts of who was involved and what the cross-border clashes mean for security along the frontier.

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