PESHAWAR: Tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border escalated sharply overnight following a heavy exchange of fire at the Ghulam Khan crossing in North Waziristan, marking another volatile chapter in the increasingly strained relations between the two neighbors.
According to reports gathered by MM News from multiple sources including those circulating on social media, the skirmish began late Tuesday night when Afghan forces allegedly initiated unprovoked firing from across the border. Pakistani troops reportedly moved to neutralize the threat, targeting Afghan Taliban positions from which the barrage originated.
BREAKING: At least five Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives and three have been injured in an incident of cross border firing from Afghanistan on the Ghulam Khan border crossing, North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. There was heavy firing reported till… pic.twitter.com/eKVbpJjNS6
— The Khorasan Diary (@khorasandiary) March 17, 2026
While details regarding the human cost remain thin, preliminary reports suggest there have been casualties and injuries among security personnel; however, official word from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) is still awaited to confirm the exact number of losses sustained during the engagement.
The confrontation is set against the backdrop of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (Wrath for the Truth), a major military offensive launched by Islamabad in late February 2026. Under the operation’s mandate, Pakistani forces have intensified precision strikes and ground actions to dismantle cross-border militant infrastructure.
This offensive reached a grim peak earlier this week following reports of a massive airstrike in Kabul. Afghan authorities claim that a major drug rehabilitation center was targeted, resulting in a staggering death toll cited between 100 and 400 individuals—figures that, if confirmed, would mark one of the deadliest episodes of the conflict. Conversely, Islamabad has categorically rejected these claims as “propaganda,” asserting that the strikes precisely neutralized a “military terrorist ammunition and equipment storage site” and that no civilian infrastructure was hit.
And so the narrative of the latest border clash remains equally contested. While Pakistani accounts describe a firm response to external aggression, unverified claims from Afghan-aligned accounts on social media have sought to characterize the engagement as a coordinated operation against Pakistani posts—assertions that observers frequently categorize as part of an ongoing information war.
Islamabad has consistently maintained that the interim Afghan government must do more to prevent its soil from being used by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a charge Kabul continues to deny. As of Wednesday morning, the situation on the ground remains tense, with reports indicating that intermittent firing continued well into the early hours.
