Pakistani media report that a drone attacked a mosque in Bannu, near the border, injuring at least five people.
Posted on February 28, 2026
International calls for mediation are growing as Pakistan and Afghanistan engage in cross-border fighting for a third day, in the most serious outbreak of violence between the neighbors in months that Pakistan says has led to “open war.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Saturday urged countries to lower the temperature and engage in talks, warning that violence could affect the entire region.
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Iran, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, also called for de-escalation and mediation.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have said they are open to negotiations to end the conflict. But Pakistan said on Saturday there would be “no dialogue,” repeating its long-standing demand that Afghanistan stop harboring “terrorism,” a charge Kabul denies.
“There will be no talks. There will be no dialogue. There will be no negotiation. Afghanistan’s terrorism has to end,” the Pakistani prime minister’s spokesman for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, told Pakistani television, stressing that Pakistan’s responsibility was to protect its citizens and its territory.
Meanwhile, retaliatory attacks occurred near the tense border. Afghan media reported that Taliban forces launched drone attacks on Pakistani military camps in the Miranshah and Spinwam border areas.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that a drone strike hit a mosque in the southern town of Bannu, wounding at least five people. And Pakistani television said Pakistani forces launched their own attack on several Afghan Taliban positions.
The latest violence erupted after Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered retaliatory Afghan attacks that spread to six Pakistani districts on Thursday. In response, Pakistan carried out widespread airstrikes in the early hours of Friday against the Afghan capital and two other areas, Kandahar and Paktia. They were Pakistan’s first airstrikes against the Taliban authorities’ power base in the south since they returned to power in 2021.
Both sides reported heavy losses with conflicting tolls. Pakistan said 12 of its soldiers and 274 Taliban were killed, while the Taliban said 13 of its fighters and 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Al Jazeera was able to independently verify neither party’s claims.
The United States, which considers Pakistan an important non-NATO ally, said it supports Pakistan’s right to “defend itself against Taliban attacks.”
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence within the country in recent years, including suicide bombings and coordinated attacks against security forces. Pakistani authorities blame the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, for many of the attacks and accuse Afghanistan of harboring the group within Afghanistan.
Kabul rejects the accusations and says it does not allow anyone to use Afghan soil to attack any country, including Pakistan.
Pakistan has nuclear weapons and its military capabilities are far superior to those of Afghanistan. However, the Taliban are experts at war, hardened by decades of fighting with US-led forces.