Sawt Falasteen - Afghanistan says Pakistan fighter jet down as cross-border strikes flare

The United States voiced its diplomatic support for Pakistan's actions after Islamabad said it would not stop strikes that were meant to pressure an Afghan government that it accuses of backing militancy.

The Taliban government has denied harbouring militants and its spokesperson has called for "dialogue" to resolve a previously simmering conflict that Pakistan's defence minister said on Friday was now "open war".

An AFP journalist heard a jet flying over Jalalabad, followed by the sound of two explosions from the direction of the city's airport.

Jalalabad residents also told AFP that they saw a person who parachuted from the plane before being detained.

"A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive," police spokesman Tayeb Hammad said.

Wahidullah Mohammadi, spokesman for the military in eastern Afghanistan, said the Pakistani jet was downed by Afghan forces "and the pilot was captured alive".

Pakistan's foreign ministry said the claims were "totally untrue".

Afghanistan's defence ministry has also said it carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory over the past two days, which observers said could have been drones.

Pakistan launched air strikes on Friday on the Afghan capital Kabul and southern Kandahar, where Afghan Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based.

That came after Afghan forces began a border offensive late on Thursday, which the Taliban government said was in response to earlier Pakistani strikes.

The South Asian neighbours have clashed at the border intermittently for months.

Pakistan's information minister said on Saturday that 37 locations across Afghanistan had been subject to aerial targeting since its operation began, although it was not clear if strikes had taken place on Friday night.

- 'Immediate response' -

"Pakistan's immediate and effective response to aggression continues," Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister, posted on X late on Friday.

The United States "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 her Pakistani counterpart.

The sharp surge in hostilities also drew concern from China, Britain, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Friday Afghan forces had killed 55 Pakistani soldiers and captured several others. He put the death toll among Afghan troops at 13.

Pakistan's Zaidi said 297 Afghan Taliban and militants had been killed. Islamabad said earlier 12 of its soldiers had been killed.

The Afghan government's deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said at least 19 civilians had also been killed in eastern Khost and Paktika provinces.

Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.

This week's escalation marked the first time that Pakistan has focused its air strikes on Afghan government facilities, analysts noted, a stark change from previous operations that it said targeted militants.

- Deadly fighting -

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 2021.

Pakistan's Zaidi told AFP on Saturday that there had been no reports of border clashes during the night, but that gunmen he said were associated with the Pakistani Taliban had attacked a checkpoint in the northwest near Afghanistan's Khost province. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack.

- Push for negotiations -

Iran, which shares an eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, offered on Friday to help "facilitate dialogue", while Saudi Arabia and Qatar moved to allay tensions. China said it was "working with" both countries and called for calm.

In Geneva, ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said the organisation was preparing relief operations but stressed that "no humanitarian response can compensate for political will".

Several rounds of negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan last year followed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey. Those efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement.

Saudi Arabia intervened this month after repeated breaches of the initial truce, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST