Breaking: Pakistani Airstrikes Rock Kabul

In a brazen escalation that's sent shockwaves across South Asia, chilling footage has surfaced showing Pakistani Air Force jets unleashing hellfire on Taliban positions deep inside Afghanistan, with explosions lighting up the night sky over Kabul and eastern border provinces. The video, shared widely on X by open-source intelligence accounts, captures the thunderous roar of fighter aircraft as precision munitions slam into suspected militant hideouts, marking what analysts call the most audacious cross-border operation since Pakistan's 2018-19 airstrikes in the region.

As the clips rack up millions of views, fears mount of a full-blown regional conflagration, with Taliban forces vowing "decisive retaliation" and border skirmishes already claiming dozens of lives.The strikes, confirmed by multiple sources as Pakistani operations, targeted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) camps allegedly harboring insurgents who've launched deadly raids into Pakistan, culminating in the ambush killing of 16 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan just days prior.

Islamabad, tight-lipped but unapologetic, frames the assaults as "intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations" to dismantle TTP sanctuaries, with military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry declaring: "To protect the lives of the people of Pakistan, we are doing—and will continue to do—whatever is necessary."

Unofficial reports whisper of high-value hits, including possibly TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud near Kabul's Abdul Haq Square, though neither side has verified the claim.

What began as simmering tensions has erupted into open warfare along the disputed 1,600-mile Durand Line. On October 9, Pakistani jets hammered TTP-linked sites in Kabul, followed by drone barrages in Paktika and Khost provinces, killing at least 19 militants, per local reports.

The Taliban, once Pakistan's shadowy allies during their insurgency against U.S.-backed forces, fired back on October 11, storming border posts in Kunar, Nangarhar, and Helmand in "retaliation for sovereignty violations."

Clashes raged into October 12, with Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claiming 58 Pakistani soldiers dead against nine of their own, while Islamabad tallied 200 "Taliban and affiliated terrorists" eliminated in counterstrikes.

By October 14, 15,000 Taliban troops, bolstered by Soviet-era tanks and Humvees abandoned post-U.S. withdrawal, massed along the frontier, artillery booming in response to fresh Pakistani mortar fire on villages like Airukam and Garab.

The viral footage, first posted by @Osint613 on X, depicts low-flying jets in the dead of night over Kabul, followed by secondary blasts ripping through urban sprawl, coordinates pinpointing Spin Buldak in Kandahar and jets streaking over Khost and Paktika.

Eyewitnesses described "aircraft overhead shortly after the blasts," with social media ablaze: "Pakistan is punishing the Taliban leadership badly tonight," one pro-Islamabad channel crowed, while Afghan outlets decried "unprecedented provocation."

Earlier echoes from December 2024 raids in Barmal, where 46 civilians, mostly women and children, perished, haunt the narrative, as Taliban officials like Enayatullah Khowarazami warn: "Such arbitrary measures are not a solution."

Pakistan's fury stems from a post-2021 Taliban resurgence that's allegedly greenlit TTP safe havens, fueling a 300% spike in cross-border attacks since Kabul's takeover.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif deems it a "red line," while Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's concurrent India visit, Pakistan's arch-rival, adds geopolitical venom.

U.N. envoys like Zalmay Khalilzad urge de-escalation: "Military escalation... will increase death and destruction in both countries."

As dawn breaks over a border scarred by decades of proxy wars, the world holds its breath. Will this be a fleeting barrage or the spark that ignites all-out war? With Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder jets ruling the skies, Afghanistan's air force long dismantled, the asymmetry favors Islamabad, but the Taliban's groundswell and ideological fury could drag neighbors like Iran and China into the fray. One thing's certain: the Durand Line, that colonial ghost, is bleeding anew.