{"id":4064,"date":"2026-02-28T05:28:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=4064"},"modified":"2026-02-28T05:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:28:50","slug":"pakistan-strikes-afghanistan-in-open-war-against-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=4064","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan Strikes Afghanistan in &#8216;Open War&#8217; Against the Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the conflict between <strong>Pakistan<\/strong> and <strong>Afghanistan<\/strong>, the <strong>U.S.<\/strong> ambassador to <strong>Israel<\/strong>\u2019s guidance to embassy staff amid <strong>Iran<\/strong> tensions, and the <strong>British<\/strong> Labour Party\u2019s special election defeat.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>\u2018Open War\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Pakistan has said it is in an \u201copen war\u201d with Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban regime as cross-border strikes reached their fiercest levels in years. \u201c[T]he Taliban became a proxy for India,\u201d Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KhawajaMAsif\/status\/2027146237275672713\">wrote<\/a> on X on Thursday. \u201cOur cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the conflict between <strong>Pakistan<\/strong> and <strong>Afghanistan<\/strong>, the <strong>U.S.<\/strong> ambassador to <strong>Israel<\/strong>\u2019s guidance to embassy staff amid <strong>Iran<\/strong> tensions, and the <strong>British<\/strong> Labour Party\u2019s special election defeat.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-fallback\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">\n                <\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/category\/world-brief\/\">Sign up<\/a>  to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<form data-shortcode-newsletter=\"world_brief\" class=\"newsletter-unit-signup newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode email-capture--step-1 newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief newsletter-shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"show-on-email-capture--signed-up hide-from-newsletter-subscriber newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode--container\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit newsletter-row\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/h2>\n<p>\n                        <button class=\"button\">Sign Up<\/button>\n                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"grid--flex newsletter-world_brief newsletter-signup-container\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"World Brief sign up form\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"buttons\">\n<div class=\"hide-from-newsletter-subscriber privacy-policy-container\">\n<div class=\"privacy-policy-acknowledge\">\n<p><small>By submitting your email, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/termsofuse\/\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Use<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n    <label for=\"email-world_brief\">Enter your email<\/label><br \/>\n    <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"hide-from-reg hide-from-sub\" id=\"email-world_brief\" aria-required=\"true\" required=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <button class=\"button button--signup \" data-newsletter-id=\"world_brief\" data-sourceid=\"In-article unit\" type=\"submit\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"sign-up-text\">Sign Up<\/span><br \/>\n      <span class=\"loading-text\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>\u2018Open War\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Pakistan has said it is in an \u201copen war\u201d with Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban regime as cross-border strikes reached their fiercest levels in years. \u201c[T]he Taliban became a proxy for India,\u201d Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KhawajaMAsif\/status\/2027146237275672713\">wrote<\/a> on X on Thursday. \u201cOur cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Islamabad alleges that Kabul is harboring the Pakistani Taliban, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/02\/20\/taliban-pakistan-afghanistan-border-dispute\/\">Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan<\/a>. In recent years, the militant group has killed hundreds of Pakistani security personnel. According to a United Nations Security Council <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.un.org\/en\/S\/2026\/44\">report<\/a> published this month, Kabul has provided the Pakistani Taliban with weapons, such as rifles and drones. But the Taliban regime has denied hosting the group, instead arguing that Pakistan is trying to deflect blame from its own domestic security weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Afghan troops <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/afghanistan-pakistan-airstrikes-open-war-98927b79ee9ef5741bf0804956d3c2e6\">stormed<\/a> more than 50 Pakistani border positions in response to Pakistani strikes earlier this week. \u201cOur operation last night was a retaliatory operation and a response to Pakistan\u2019s operation, not an attack to start a war against Pakistan,\u201d Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Hours later, the Pakistani military launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/27\/world\/asia\/afghanistan-pakistan-taliban-airstrikes.html\">wave of airstrikes<\/a> targeting more than 20 locations, including in Afghanistan\u2019s two largest cities. According to Pakistani military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, strikes hit military sites in Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, where Afghan Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada lives.<\/p>\n<p>The exact number of casualties is unknown. On Friday, Chaudhry said that Pakistani forces had killed 274 people in Afghanistan\u2014without distinguishing between Taliban militants and civilians\u2014and wounded more than 400 others. Meanwhile, Mujahid said that Afghan troops had killed 55 Pakistani soldiers. Civilian deaths were not specified. However, Islamabad confirmed that 12 of its soldiers were killed, while Kabul added that it had lost 13 Taliban troops.<\/p>\n<p>Initial death tolls highlight the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/26\/world\/asia\/pakistan-afghanistan-taliban.html\">military prowess<\/a> of each country. Although Pakistan is a nuclear-armed nation whose military is considered vastly superior to Afghanistan\u2019s, the Taliban have years of experience in guerrilla warfare, giving them an advantage during ground incursions.<\/p>\n<p>The last time that Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/22\/afghanistan-pakistan-border-violence-cease-fire-terrorism\/\">heavy fighting<\/a> was October. Although Qatar mediated a cease-fire between the two sides, several rounds of peace talks in Turkey the following month failed to produce a lasting agreement, and both countries have occasionally traded fire since.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPakistan does not view its border problem with Afghanistan as merely cartographic but existential,\u201d FP columnist C. Raja Mohan <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/11\/03\/india-pakistan-afghanistan-taliban-geopolitics-rivalry-muttaqi\/\">argued<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the Taliban regime suggested that it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/pakistan-strikes-afghanistan-targets-clashes-intensify-2026-02-27\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=022726&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">willing to negotiate<\/a> with Islamabad. \u201cAfghanistan has never been a supporter of violence and has always preferred to resolve issues based on mutual understanding and respect,\u201d Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar\u2019s minister of state for foreign affairs, during a phone call. \u201cHowever, this approach will be effective only if the other party demonstrates a practical and sincere willingness to find solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Today\u2019s Most Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>What We\u2019re Following<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>\u201cAn abundance of caution.\u201d <\/strong>U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told embassy workers on Friday that if they wish to leave the country, they \u201cshould do so TODAY.\u201d This is out of \u201can abundance of caution\u201d following conversations with the U.S. State Department, Huckabee wrote in an email seen by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/27\/world\/middleeast\/us-embassy-jerusalem-authorized-departure.html?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20260227&amp;instance_id=171724&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=159637444&amp;segment_id=215895&amp;user_id=3a92aa035d8e7d51a6ba63375b87c152\"><em>New York Times<\/em><\/a>, adding that U.S. personnel should purchase commercial flights out of Ben Gurion International Airport to any destination that they can book passage to.<\/p>\n<p>Although Huckabee stressed that there was \u201cno need to panic,\u201d speculation is mounting that such a warning could foreshadow a U.S. attack on Iran. According to Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, U.S. and Iranian officials made \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/26\/us-iran-nuclear-deal-geneva-talks-military-buildup-strikes\/\">significant progress<\/a>\u201d toward reaching a nuclear deal during talks in Geneva on Thursday, and the two sides are expected to hold technical-level discussions in Vienna next week.<\/p>\n<p>However, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-us-israel-embassy-staff-436162f886bdaed30c8dd0cdbe1b5aea?utm_source=onesignal&amp;utm_medium=push&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-27-US-Iran+talks\">not happy<\/a>\u201d with the talks\u2019 outcome so far but that he hadn\u2019t yet made a decision on whether to strike Iran. \u201cWe have the greatest military anywhere in the world. There\u2019s nothing close. I\u2019d love not to use it, but sometimes you have to. We\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d Trump told reporters. He said that additional talks were expected to take place later in the day.<\/p>\n<p>Also on Friday, the State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/02\/secretary-rubios-travel-to-israel\/\">confirmed<\/a> that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is still expected to visit Israel on March 2-3, though he is <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/margbrennan\/status\/2027417349997871372\">not planning<\/a> to take reporters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A \u201cdisappointing\u201d Labour loss. <\/strong>Britain\u2019s Green Party won a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/26\/world\/europe\/gorton-denton-result-green-party-labour.html\">special election<\/a> in northwest England on Thursday, according to results announced early Friday, marking the second by-election defeat for the ruling Labour Party since Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office. Labour\u2019s loss was further exacerbated by its placing, falling behind the far-right Reform U.K. party to take third with just around 25 percent of the vote. This is the first time that Labour has not controlled the seat (with one exception) since 1906.<\/p>\n<p>Labour chair Anna Turley described the results as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/uk-greens-snatch-labour-seat-gorton-denton-by-election-hannah-spencer-keir-starmer-blow\/\">deeply disappointing<\/a>,\u201d but Starmer vowed to continue to \u201cfight against the extremes in politics on the right and the left, parties who want to tear our country apart,\u201d for \u201cas long as I\u2019ve got breath in my body.\u201d However, the loss of another by-election has intensified <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/10\/starmer-britain-labour-prime-minister-mandelson-epstein-resign\/\">calls for his resignation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Labour has repeatedly touted itself as the best way to prevent Reform U.K. from taking power as <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/11\/05\/britain-immigration-uk-ilr-labour-reform\/\">far-right nationalism<\/a> surges across the country. But Labour lawmakers are now beginning to question whether the party\u2019s strategy is effective. \u201cIn an election we tried to make into one of unity versus division, the electorate chose division\u2014just not the division we were campaigning most against,\u201d one Labour parliamentarian told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/uk\/uks-green-party-wins-gorton-denton-parliamentary-seat-2026-02-27\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=022726&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Surge of approval. <\/strong>Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ckg3e63jwj8o\">snap parliamentary elections<\/a> on Thursday following a surge of public support for her handling of Trump\u2019s efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/01\/27\/conley-trump-arctic-greenland-nato\/\">acquire Greenland<\/a>. Frederiksen\u2019s Social Democrats formed a minority government with other left-leaning parties in 2019, then grew to a majority grand coalition in 2022 after securing a coalition with centrist parties. The new vote will take place on March 24, more than six months before Frederiksen was due to hold elections.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Trump dropped his threat to seize the semiautonomous Danish territory by force after <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/01\/21\/donald-trump-world-economic-forum-davos-speech-greenland\/\">announcing<\/a> that he and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had \u201cformed the framework of a future deal\u201d on Greenland. Still, Frederiksen remains wary. \u201cAs everyone knows, the conflict about Greenland isn\u2019t over yet,\u201d she said during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/26\/world\/europe\/denmark-election-frederiksen-greenland.html\">speech<\/a> to Parliament on Thursday, adding that Denmark must \u201ccontinue rearming itself\u201d to counter \u201cthe Russian war machine from the east, threats from the west, and the risk of terror from the south.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, the U.S. president <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fact-focus-greenland-us-trump-hospital-ship-5db7f911c79d1320c6c6e29d895e1403\">announced<\/a> that he was planning to send a hospital ship to Greenland, claiming that many of its residents are sick and \u201cnot being taken care of.\u201d Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen rejected the proposal, telling Trump that Nuuk provides free health care for all its citizens\u2014unlike the United States.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>What in the World?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Why were more than 1,000 people trapped in Mexico\u2019s Guadalajara Zoo overnight on Sunday?<\/p>\n<p>A. The presence of low-flying drones over the city<br \/>B. A bomb threat made at the nearby Jalisco Stadium<br \/>C. Violence related to the capture of a cartel leader<br \/>D. Escaped zoo animals roaming the surrounding streets<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Odds and Ends<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Animal lovers are going bananas for a baby macaque named Punch. The 7-month-old monkey went viral this month when zookeepers at Japan\u2019s Ichikawa City Zoo gifted Punch a plush Ikea orangutang toy to help him cope with social anxiety after being abandoned by his mother. Fans are flocking to the zoo to offer their support, and Ikea has donated more stuffed animals for Punch to cuddle with. \u201cJust like the zookeepers, we sincerely hope that Punch will soon become comfortable in an environment with the other monkeys and no longer need the soft toy,\u201d Ikea said in a statement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/pets-animals\/wildlife\/zoo-aquarium\/2026\/02\/26\/punch-the-monkey-japan-zoo-fans-lining-up\/88877682007\/\"><em>USA Today<\/em><\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>And the Answer Is\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>C. Violence related to the capture of a cartel leader<\/p>\n<p>As long as money can be made selling drugs, eliminating one cartel boss will simply lead to the installation of a replacement, Antonio De Loera-Brust <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/25\/mexico-jalisco-cartel-el-mencho-sheinbaum-trump-violence\/\">argues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To take the rest of FP\u2019s weekly international news quiz, <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/27\/news-quiz-icc-rodrigo-duterte-russia-ukraine-war-mexico-china-japan-olympics\/\">click here<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/alerts\/\">sign up<\/a> to be alerted when a new one is published.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/27\/pakistan-afghanistan-taliban-clashes-open-war\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the U.S. ambassador to Israel\u2019s guidance to embassy staff amid Iran tensions, and the British Labour Party\u2019s special election defeat. \u2018Open War\u2019 Pakistan has said it is in an \u201copen war\u201d with Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban regime as cross-border strikes reached their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}