Pakistan Resumes Cross-Border Airstrikes After 3-Month Pause, Hits Kunar and Paktika; Claims 28 Killed, Taliban Says 3 Civilians Dead

Pakistani jet fighters struck three targets in eastern Afghanistan around 3:00am on September 21, 2026, in Nurgal district, Kunar province, and Barmal district, Paktika province — the first confirmed Pakistani cross-border strikes since the June 28-29 Chamkani-Gyan-Marawara package, ending a nearly three-month pause. Pakistan's Ministry of Information said the 'calibrated' strikes destroyed three targets, including a suicide-bomber training center, killing 28 'terrorists and suicide bombers' linked to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction and Fitna al-Khawarij (TTP), in retaliation for the September 18-19 Kohat Police Lines mosque bombing and the September 20 Hangu firefight that killed six security personnel. Afghan officials gave a starkly different account: one strike hit a residential home in Nurgal, killing three members of the same family (including one woman) and wounding four others; two further strikes on Barmal, Paktika caused property damage with no reported casualties there. Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes as 'aggression and a continuation of crimes' committed 'to divert attention from their country's security failures' and vowed an 'appropriate response.' Pakistan's Ministry of Information dismissed the Taliban's warnings as a 'pretence of dialogue.'