Afghan Taliban send cheap drones into Pakistan, where forces shoot them down

The Afghan Taliban are increasingly sending cheap, home-built drones into Pakistan, but the slow, low-flying aircraft have proved easy for Pakistani forces to shoot down once spotted, according to an investigation by France24 reported by Dawn.

On September 23, Pakistan’s forces shot down at least eight fixed-wing drones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa less than 1,000 metres from the Afghan border. Five days later, the Foreign Office lodged a diplomatic protest with the Taliban over “provocative incursions”, reporting that 23 drones had entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan since the start of September.

Built from online parts

France24 examined photographs and videos of drones intercepted by the Pakistan Army. It found:

• Engines: the Taliban’s suicide drones appear to run on DLE55 engines, 55cc single-piston engines that can be bought online
• Size: about two metres across
• Payload: between half a kilogram and one kilogram of explosives
• Parts: autopilot software is widely available, engines and batteries are sold on e-commerce platforms, and airframes can be made with 3D printers, polystyrene or balsa wood

Drone expert Mark Grozel told France24 that because the drones fly slowly and low, they have limited military effectiveness and are simple to shoot down once spotted, though detecting them remains a challenge. He said a foreign government could be supplying them, but building one is no longer difficult.

A weapon of fear

“They allow you to tell your adversary: ‘I can threaten your infrastructure at any moment’. If one hits a school or a fuel facility, the consequences could be catastrophic. Their main power is their psychological impact,” Grozel said.

Why Pakistan is fighting the Taliban

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul collapsed about eight months ago, when Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said ties with the Taliban had deteriorated into “open war”, Dawn reported. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of harbouring and aiding the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an internationally designated terrorist group that has waged an insurgency inside Pakistan for nearly 20 years.

Pakistan, which has air superiority, has struck suspected TTP hideouts deep inside Afghanistan. The Taliban have answered with ground assaults and drone attacks.

• 2025: routine border fighting reportedly claimed around 4,000 lives
• September 18, 2026: a TTP suicide car bombing at a mosque in Kohat killed 21 people

“One group”

Afghan affairs expert Mukhtar Wafaei told France24 that the Afghan Taliban and the TTP share deep ideological roots dating back to the Soviet-Afghan war. A few months after the Afghan Taliban returned to power, the TTP leader said they were one movement: “We are not two groups. We are one group, following one programme, one ideology and one method.”

Why it matters

The drones expose what Pakistan has long said: the Afghan Taliban and the TTP are working together against Pakistan. Pakistan’s forces are bringing the drones down, but the threat to schools, fuel depots and border towns means vigilance must stay high. Read our reports on Dar’s warning to the Afghan Taliban and on Pakistan’s air strikes in Afghanistan.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and France24.