Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan and declared a state of "war" with its neighbor on Friday, drawing diplomatic support from Washington but a chorus of concern from others in the international community.
Pakistan, which launched the strikes to retaliate for a cross-border Afghan offensive on Thursday night, said that 29 locations across Afghanistan had been "subjected to aerial targeting."
"Pakistan's immediate and effective response to aggression continues," Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister, posted on X.
In response to the sharp surge in hostilities, Britain, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross called for immediate de-escalation while diplomats in China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar began efforts to calm the tensions.
The United States for its part "expressed support for Pakistan's right to defend itself against Taliban attacks," Allison Hooker, the under secretary of state for political affairs, wrote on X after talks with a Pakistani counterpart.
The operation was Pakistan's most widespread bombardment of Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and included strikes on their southern power base, Kandahar, as well as the Afghan capital.
It was launched after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in retaliation for earlier air strikes by Islamabad. Both sides claimed they inflicted significant casualties.
-- Casualties --
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers and captured several others, while putting the death toll among Afghan troops at 13.
Zaidi, the Pakistan government spokesman, said 297 Afghan Taliban and militants had been killed. Islamabad earlier said 12 of its soldiers had been killed.
Afghanistan government spokesman Hamdullayh Fitrat said at least 19 civilians had been killed in Khost and Paktika provinces.
Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
Near the key Torkham border crossing, an AFP journalist heard shelling on Friday morning, and a camp accommodating Afghans who had returned from Pakistan was hit by the fighting overnight.
"Children, women, and old people were running," Gander Khan, a 65-year-old man, told AFP in front of rows of tents at the Omari camp.
- Relations plunge -
Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies.
Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has stepped up assaults in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an "all-out confrontation" with the Taliban government, posting on X: "Now it is open war between us and you."
Taliban government spokesman Mujahid said Afghanistan wanted "dialogue" to resolve the conflict.
"We have repeatedly emphasised a peaceful solution, and still want the problem to be resolved through dialogue," Mujahid told a news conference, adding: "Right now, Pakistani planes, reconnaissance aircraft, are flying over Afghanistan's airspace."
- Delicate ceasefire broken -
The strikes mark a "significant and dangerous escalation from earlier clashes", South Asia expert Michael Kugelman said on X.
"Pakistan appears to have expanded its targeting beyond TTP to the Taliban regime itself," he said.
Several rounds of negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but the efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement.
The military operation follows recent Pakistan strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, which the UN mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians.
Besides military operations, there have been a series of deadly suicide blasts in Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months.
They included an attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 40 people and was claimed by the Islamic State group.
The militant group's regional chapter, Islamic State-Khorasan, also claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a restaurant in Kabul last month.
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