The information ministry dismissed on Friday claims by the Afghan defence ministry of a Pakistani post having been destroyed near the Spin Boldak border — the frontier between Balochistan and Kandahar — as “fake and fabricated”.

The information ministry also took note of Afghan claims that there had been no casualties among the Afghan forces in the latest episode of clash between the two sides.

“The claim is fake and fabricated. As per actual facts, an attempted Afghan aggression in the Gulistan sector was thwarted on night between Sept 24 and Sept 25, and during the process and subsequent heavy punishment inflicted on opposing Taliban posts, at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and several injured,” the information ministry said in a post on X.

It also shared visuals in the post, which the ministry said were of the incident.

The incident, it added, had already been “widely covered by media and circulated extensively across social media, providing visual evidence of the border engagement and punishment inflicted on the Afghan Taliban after their cowardly attack”.

“The […] Afghan ministry’s attempt is no surprise since the Taliban are habitual liars having no moral and reputational standing,” it added.

The latest clash has taken place amid an uptick in tensions at the Pak-Afghan border.

Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes in 10 locations across Afghanistan on Thursday in retaliation for drones launched from the neighbouring country a day earlier.

The response came after eight drones, launched from Afghanistan, entered Pakistani airspace near the Torkham border and Kohat on Wednesday. Security sources said they were subsequently shot down. It was also reported that the Afghan Taliban engaged in unprovoked firing the night before near Kurram as security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to cross into Pakistan.

On Sept 21, Pakistan, in response to recent terrorist attacks in KP, conducted “calibrated” airstrikes in the border region with Afghanistan against terrorist hideouts and safe havens of terrorist organisations.

A statement from the information ministry on Monday said that over 28 terrorists were eliminated in the strikes. “It is a matter of grave concern that Afghanistan continues to remain a hub of terrorism,” the ministry said at the time, specifying that the “threat to Pakistan emanates from Afghanistan”.

The airstrikes had come after a major attack in the old Police Lines in KP’s Kohat claimed 23 lives and injured about 100 others. Eight terrorists were killed during an overnight clearance operation launched to clear the area.

Ghazab lil-Haq

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described Monday’s action as part of Pakistan’s ongoing counter-terrorism campaign, Ghazab lil Haq.

On the night of February 26, following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq against terrorist hideouts.

Pakistan also carried out strikes in the border region with Afghanistan in late June, with the government saying they were in response to a wave of terrorist attacks, including one on a Rangers camp in Karachi.

At the time, Tarar said that 25 terrorists were killed in those strikes in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar.

Pakistan had carried out similar strikes on terrorist hideouts along its border with Afghanistan earlier that month, killing 26 terrorists.

In July, security forces responded to unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban at border posts in Kurram, security sources had said. In the same month, the Afghan Taliban regime launched four rudimentary drones across the border into Balochistan, which were shot down by security forces. Two drones were also shot down in June in Qila Abdullah and Chagai districts.

Pak-Afghan ties

As clashes continue, tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have remained high. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP, that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar addressed a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), where he called for steps towards concrete and verifiable action to prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorism against any neighbouring country, particularly Pakistan.

Dar said Pakistan was “seriously concerned” about the presence of over two dozen terrorist groups in Afghanistan that threatened regional and international peace and security.

Last week, Pakistan also told the UN Security Council that it would respond to terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan in self-defence as and when needed and in accordance with international law.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Office (FO) declared that meaningful progress in relations with Kabul would depend on the Taliban taking concrete and verifiable action against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.

It maintained that while Islamabad welcomed China’s continuing engagement, the external facilitation could not substitute for action by Kabul against terrorist infrastructure.

According to a UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report — covering the period from December 16, 2025 to June 9, 2026 — Afg­han Taliban’s continued support for TTP has contributed to a rise in the frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, even as Kabul has taken some initial steps to rein in the group.

The report also pointed to growing operational and facilitation linkages among the TTP, Al Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIL-K) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).