Pakistan hits back at fresh Afghan firing in Lower South Waziristan

Pakistani security forces have responded to fresh unprovoked firing from Afghan border posts in Lower South Waziristan, the district’s deputy commissioner said on Sunday, according to reports by Dawn and The Express Tribune.

What the deputy commissioner said

In a post on X, the deputy commissioner’s official account said that “unprovoked firing from Afghan border posts onto Pakistani border checkpoints continues” near Angoor Adda. Pakistani forces, it said, responded “immediately and effectively”, targeting “multiple Afghan border posts, mortar positions, and defensive checkpoints”. The post added that Afghan Taliban personnel were “forced to abandon their posts and flee”, that no casualties had been reported on the Pakistani side, and that Pakistani forces “remain prepared to deliver a full response to any kind of aggression”.

The military’s media wing, the ISPR, had not yet commented. The account comes from the Pakistani civil administration. The reports we drew on do not carry an Afghan version of Sunday’s exchange.

A week of exchanges

The latest firing follows a run of incidents. On Friday, state media said Pakistan’s armed forces had responded to unprovoked fire from the other side, destroying several Afghan Taliban posts in areas next to South Waziristan and Parachinar; read our report on the army’s response at Angoor Adda. On Tuesday, Afghan forces opened fire in the Angoor Adda area, killing a local resident and injuring a family of five, as we reported in Kundi’s warning after the Angoor Adda firing. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned that attack and said Pakistan would “never tolerate” attacks on its people or violations of its sovereignty. Pakistan also rejected a statement by Afghanistan’s defence ministry that described Pakistan as the aggressor, calling it a “fabrication of lies”.

Washington’s response

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had “heard” Pakistan’s concerns about terrorism coming from Afghanistan and that if “there’s a productive role for us to play, we would play it”. “We’ve heard the concerns that Pakistan has raised and we’ve seen some of those attacks that they point to,” he said. “We’re against terrorism no matter where it emanates from and who it targets.”

Background

Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban administration of sheltering militants, above all the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies this and calls the militancy Pakistan’s domestic problem. Fighting between the two sides began in October 2025, and several rounds of talks since, facilitated by Qatar, Turkiye and China, have not produced an agreement. At the United Nations on Friday, a Pakistani envoy urged the Taliban to take “decisive action” against such groups; our report on Pakistan’s statement at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee has the details.

Why it matters

Three exchanges of fire in one week show that the border is again an active front, and that each incident carries a risk of a wider clash. For people living near Angoor Adda, the immediate cost is danger on the ground: one resident has already died. Pakistan’s position is that it responds to attacks and wants the Taliban to act against terrorist groups, and Rubio’s remarks suggest that this message is being heard in Washington, though he committed to nothing. What to watch next is whether the ISPR confirms the details of Sunday’s response, whether any casualties emerge on the Afghan side, and whether another round of talks is arranged.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and The Express Tribune.