Afghanistan Peace Campaign
Two children were killed and six other children were wounded after Pakistani forces shelled the Sarkano district of Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, according to reports.
The attack reportedly took place around 5 p.m. on Wednesday and struck civilian areas, including residential homes, deepening concerns over the growing human toll of the border conflict.
Bakhtar News claimed that several civilian houses were damaged in the artillery fire, while local officials said two of the wounded children were transferred to a hospital in neighboring Nangarhar for urgent treatment. The latest incident adds to a rising number of civilian casualties in eastern Afghanistan as cross-border exchanges continue.
The attack came only days after Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said earlier Pakistani rocket fire in Kunar had killed one person and injured 16 others, most of them women and children. That earlier shelling, along with the latest strike, suggests that the security situation along the frontier remains highly unstable despite diplomatic contacts.
The latest violence comes amid one of the sharpest escalations in relations between Pakistan and the Taliban administration since 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing militants, especially Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghanistan soil, while Taliban officials reject the accusation and say Pakistan is targeting civilians inside Afghanistan.
The fighting has also triggered a widening humanitarian crisis across several Afghanistan border provinces. According to UN-linked and aid reporting, tens of thousands of families have been displaced by artillery fire, airstrikes, and armed clashes in Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost, Paktika, and other affected areas, with many communities facing repeated displacement and disrupted access to aid.
The Kunar-Nangarhar border belt has long remained one of the most sensitive flashpoints between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but recent weeks have seen a more dangerous turn, with both sides increasingly relying on heavy weapons, cross-border shelling, and military accusations rather than local de-escalation channels.
At the same time, Pakistan and Taliban officials have opened fresh talks in Urumqi, China, in what diplomats describe as a new effort to secure a ceasefire and prevent further deterioration. China is trying to bring both sides back to dialogue, but the continuation of shelling during the talks shows how fragile and uncertain the peace process remains.
The deaths of two children in Kunar underline how civilians continue to pay the highest price in the worsening border conflict. Even as officials discuss peace in China, developments on the ground suggest that trust between the two sides remains dangerously low.
Unless the latest diplomacy produces a credible ceasefire and enforcement mechanism, more cross-border attacks are likely to follow. For residents of eastern Afghanistan, especially children and displaced families, each new round of shelling brings not only fear and loss, but also growing uncertainty about safety and survival.