Afghanistan Peace CampaignThe United States has reaffirmed its support for Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorism, days after cross-border airstrikes that the United Nations says killed at least 28 civilians in Afghanistan and amid rising tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul.
The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington “supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks,” according to Reuters. “The Pakistani people have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists,” the department said.
The statement, as reported by Reuters, did not directly address the reported civilian casualties or comment on the specific strikes inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s military carried out the airstrikes on Sunday, June 28, in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar. Islamabad said the operation targeted hideouts belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, groups it accuses of staging attacks on Pakistani soil. Pakistani officials said 25 members of the groups were killed, though some Pakistani accounts put the figure higher.
The United Nations gave a different account. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, said at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 others wounded in the strikes, with women and children among the casualties. It described the figures as preliminary and said they could rise. Taliban officials initially put the toll higher, at 36 killed, a figure the UN has not confirmed.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration of allowing TTP fighters to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks across the border. The Taliban have rejected the allegations, saying Afghan soil is not used to threaten neighboring countries and that Pakistan is deflecting blame for its own security problems.
Days after the strikes, the Taliban said their forces had carried out attacks inside Pakistan, targeting what they described as centers used by Islamic State and other hostile groups in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan regions. Pakistan said it intercepted and shot down four drones over Balochistan.
The latest strikes were the second Pakistani cross-border air operation inside Afghanistan in June. UNAMA said an earlier round on June 11, in Khost, Kunar, and Paktika, killed 13 civilians, despite Pakistan’s assertion that it had hit militant positions.
Relations between Pakistan and the Kabul administration have deteriorated sharply over border security and militant violence, with both sides exchanging accusations over responsibility for cross-border attacks. The United States continues to designate the Afghan Taliban as a terrorist group and regards Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally, ties that shape Washington’s response to the escalation.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Monday for an immediate halt to the fighting and urged both sides to protect civilians and resolve their differences through diplomacy. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Kabul to protest the strikes.
The US statement comes as concern grows over regional security and the humanitarian consequences of continued military operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.