Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have flared in recent days with the exchange of deadly gunfire between the neighbors that has stoked fears of a wider conflict.

At least 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed and several others injured during the clashes, according to TOLOnews

Pakistan uprooted the Taliban with U.S. help in the 2010s. But the insurgency has resurfaced with assistance from the Afghan Taliban.

A full-blown conflict between Afghanistan’s Taliban and neighboring Pakistan seemed unthinkable when the hard-line Islamist group, a longtime ally of Islamabad, seized power in 2021 as international troops withdrew and the government their supported collapsed.

The Taliban government accuses Pakistan of bombing Kabul and a market in eastern Afghanistan. A blast occurred Thursday night in Kabul near key government buildings.

In a major setback following coordinated attacks by Afghan Taliban fighters on military posts along the Durand Line, Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, held an emergency meeting at GHQ Rawalpindi and demanded an intelligence report.

RAWALPINDI: Days after a brief period of calm along the Pak-Afghan border, fresh clashes erupted in the Kurram sector as Pakistani security forces retaliated against unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban regime and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), security sources confirmed on Tuesday.

By the end of the meeting, Field Marshal Munir reportedly left his commanders with a grim warning: the army must “regain control and restore strategic depth before it’s too late.”