Fresh cross-border air strikes carried out by Pakistan inside Afghan territory have reignited long-simmering hostilities between the two neighboring nations, with starkly conflicting casualty reports emerging from both sides. The ruling Taliban administration in Afghanistan says the new attack left nine civilians dead, including women and children, and wounded another 11 people, while Islamabad claims the operation eliminated 22 militants. In a public post on X, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes targeted residential properties in two border provinces: Kunar and Helmand. Mujahid condemned the incursion as an unprovoked act of aggression that violates every widely recognized norm of international relations, calling it a deliberate crime against Afghan civilians. Pakistan’s information ministry, however, framed the operation very differently, confirming it had targeted what it described as pre-planned strikes against well-established terrorist camps located inside Afghan territory. The ministry added that large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition were stored at these sites, and that operators had taken all possible maximum precautions to avoid civilian harm or collateral damage. This latest exchange of accusations comes amid years of escalating friction between the two neighbors. Pakistan has repeatedly levied claims that the Afghan Taliban knowingly shelters militant groups that plan and carry out deadly attacks on Pakistani targets from staging grounds inside Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban has consistently rejected these allegations, arguing that Pakistan’s domestic militancy challenges are an internal issue that cannot be blamed on Kabul. Tensions between the one-time allies boiled over dramatically earlier this year, when deadly cross-border clashes and a wave of airstrikes led Pakistan to formally declare it was in an “open war” with the Afghan administration in February. A fragile ceasefire was negotiated a month later, with China stepping in as a neutral mediator to de-escalate the crisis. That calm began to unravel last month, however, when a devastating attack on a police outpost in northwest Pakistan killed 24 people, pushing tensions back to breaking point. Just last week, Pakistan carried out another round of air strikes across the border that hit multiple Afghan provinces, including Kandahar, the historic political stronghold of the Taliban. The Afghan government confirmed that earlier incursion killed four civilians. This latest strike has pushed already frayed bilateral ties to their lowest point in months, leaving observers watching closely for any further escalation of hostilities along the 2,640-kilometer shared border between the two nations.