Chicago – March 16, 2026
Pakistan’s president Saturday warned neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban government that it had “ crossed a red line ” by launching drone attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan, and hours later the country reportedly conducted strikes on an Afghan drone storage facility.
The statement by Asif Ali Zardari was the latest in what has become the deadliest fighting yet between the two South Asian neighbors. The cross-border clashes, which erupted late last month, have shown no signs of abating despite efforts by China and Turkey to broker a ceasefire.
Pakistan said its forces intercepted the drones launched Friday but that falling debris injured two children in the city of Quetta and two people elsewhere in the country.
According to state-run media, Pakistan’s air force carried out strikes late Saturday in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province, targeting an Afghan military facility that had allegedly been used to launch drone attacks into Pakistan a day earlier and that the facility was also being used by the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban for “acts of terrorism” in Pakistan. Pakistan TV, citing security officials, reported that the latest strikes were intended to signal to Kabul that Afghan territory cannot be used for cross-border attacks against Pakistan.
