By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal and RFE/RL's Radio Azadi February 26, 2026

Several explosions have rocked Kabul just hours after Afghanistan and Pakistan traded strikes on each other in their volatile mountain border region as days of escalating tensions boiled over with both sides claiming to have killed dozens of militants and security forces.

Local sources told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that four locations were under attack in Afghanistan's capital in the early hours of February 27, as well as a military base in the Kandahar region.

The sound of military jets were reportedly heard as explosions detonated around the capital.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban-led government, confirmed strikes in "certain areas of Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia." He added that there were no reports of casualties.

Pakistan's military confirmed its fighter planes had bombed Kabul, with Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for the Pakistani government, saying in a social media post that "counter strikes against targets in Afghanistan continue."

The strikes on Kabul came amid a major escalation in hostilities between Afghanistan's Taliban-led government and Islamabad.

Just hours earlier, Mujahid said Kabul had launched "a large-scale offensive operation against Pakistani military centers and military installations along the Durand Line," a volatile border that cuts through traditional Pashtun and Baloch tribal territories.

Taliban's Defense Ministry claimed that 55 Pakistani security personnel had been killed, while two bases and 19 posts were captured across the border by its forces.

Islamabad's troops retaliated, Pakistani officials said, with Zaidi saying a total of 133 Afghan Taliban members are "confirmed killed," and more than 200 others wounded.