The 2025 Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict was a border war fought between Pakistan and the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in late 2025 in the aftermath of Pakistan's assassination attempt on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Noor Wali Mehsud in Kabul. On 11 November 2025, after a suicide bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan's defense minister declared the country to be in a "state of war."
Background[]
Starting in 1994, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) intelligence agency backed the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban militia in seizing control of Afghanistan, supplying the group with weapons, equipment, and Pashtun madrassa students. While the 9/11 attacks of 2001 resulted in Pakistan publicly declaring its support for the United States' War on Terror, the government continued to provide shelter to Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, hoping to install a pro-Pakistan and anti-India government in power in Afghanistan. By 2007, the Taliban used the Pakistani city of Quetta as their main headquarters. However, Pakistan contended with its own Taliban-inspired insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attempted to establish an Islamic state and commit ethnic cleansing against minority groups like the Shia Hazaras. By 2019, up to 4,000 TTP militants were based in Afghanistan. After the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan was unable to persuade the Afghan Taliban to crack down on the TTP, with the new Afghan regime instead mediating talks between Pakistan and the group. In April 2022, Pakistan launched airstrikes on Afghanistan in retaliation for TTP terror attacks. In 2025, the Pakistani government mandated that its media refer to the TTP as "Kharijites."
War[]
On 9 October 2025, Pakistan launched airstrikes on the Afghan capital of Kabul, targeting TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud; other airstrikes may have taken place in Khost, Jalalabad, and Paktika. On the night of 11 October, the Afghan Islamic National Army responded by attacking multiple Pakistani border outposts before declaring a unilateral ceasefire. Pakistan responded by attacking Taliban positions on the Afghan border into the morning of 12 October. Qatar and Saudi Arabia attempted to mediate between the countries, but fighting continued over the following days as Pakistan bombed Taliban military installations and clashed with the INA. By 17 October, 37 civilians had been killed and 425 injured. On 19 October, Qatar brokered a ceasefire between the nations, but, as ceasefire talks fell through on 7 November, clashes resumed. After an 11 November suicide bombing in Islamabad killed 12 people, Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif declared Pakistan to be in a "state of war."