Saudi Foreign Minister calls Ishaq Dar over Pak-Afghan clashes

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministers on Friday held an urgent telephone conversation to discuss escalating tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as cross-border hostilities intensified in multiple sectors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, on Friday morning.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the two leaders exchanged views on regional security and efforts to reduce tensions in the broader region.

The diplomatic outreach came amid claims by Islamabad that its armed forces had carried out extensive retaliatory strikes following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban regime along several points of the frontier.

Pakistani officials said security forces responded with airstrikes and missile attacks, resulting in the killing of 133 Taliban fighters and injuries to more than 200 others.

They further claimed that 27 Afghan posts were completely destroyed and that Pakistani forces had taken control of nine additional posts during the counteroffensive.

According to official accounts, several Taliban fighters fled their positions following the strikes. Pakistan also asserted that a major ammunition depot, three battalion headquarters and a sector headquarters on the Afghan side were destroyed in the retaliatory action.

More than 80 tanks, artillery guns and armoured personnel carriers were targeted and destroyed. Officials added that Pakistani troops hoisted national flags on several captured Afghan check posts.

On Thursday evening, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement posted on X that its security forces had responded “immediately and effectively” to what it termed unprovoked firing by the Afghan military across multiple locations along the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ministry said the Afghan Taliban regime had miscalculated in opening fire and that Pakistan’s response was ongoing in the Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors. Early reports, it added, indicated heavy casualties on the Afghan side, with multiple posts and equipment destroyed.

“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens,” the statement said, underscoring Islamabad’s resolve to defend its borders.

Reporter Anwer Abbas