From Retaliation to Routine: Pakistan’s Militarism Along the Durand Line

By Rahmatullah Achakzai 

For decades, Pakistan has invoked the rhetoric of “national security” to justify military adventurism across its western frontier. Today, in eastern Afghanistan, this narrative masks an alarming pattern of cross-border artillery fire, drone strikes and air incursions that kill civilians, uproot communities and deepen instability. In towns and villages from Kunar to Nangarhar and Khost, Afghan families are living under constant threat of a neighbor’s unilateral militarism.

Since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan has publicly claimed that militant groups shelter in Afghan territory. Under this pretext, it has expanded the use of armed drones, helicopter gunships, artillery barrages and special forces raids along the Durand Line. What was once sporadic retaliation has now become an institutionalized policy tool.

Pakistani strikes are routinely framed as “precise” counter-terror operations. Yet credible reports from local journalists, UN agencies and Afghan community leaders show a far different picture: entire hamlets bombed, civilian houses flattened, and marketplaces shredded by shelling. By presenting aggression as border management, Islamabad seeks to legitimize acts that are in direct violation of international law and Afghan sovereignty.

The Human Cost on Afghan Soil

 • Civilian Casualties: Families lose fathers and sons to sudden drone strikes while tending livestock. Children have been killed walking to school. Women give birth under the sound of drones, with trauma shaping entire communities.

 • Mass Displacement: Afghans along the border flee ancestral lands to escape bombardments, crowding into camps with little food or medical care.

 • Psychological Trauma: Entire generations grow up associating Pakistani drones with terror. Nightmares, anxiety and PTSD are widespread.

 • Humanitarian Access Blocked: NGOs hesitate to enter “hot zones,” meaning fewer clinics, fewer aid convoys, and collapsing local health systems.

In effect, these incursions undermine Afghanistan’s already fragile recovery, perpetuating a humanitarian crisis while sowing seeds of long-term instability.

Violating Sovereignty and International Norms

Pakistan’s actions breach the UN Charter and multiple international humanitarian law principles governing the protection of civilians. They contradict Islamabad’s own calls for regional peace and its stated support for Afghan sovereignty. By normalizing cross-border aggression, Pakistan sets a dangerous precedent: that military force can substitute for dialogue and diplomacy, even between two Islamic neighbors with shared cultural and historical ties.

Afghan Voices of Anguish

Afghan elders in Kunar and Khost have issued repeated pleas to Islamabad to stop the attacks. Civil society groups in Jalalabad and Kabul have documented the civilian toll. Social media accounts show videos of destroyed homes, maimed livestock, and grieving families holding up fragments of Pakistani shells. The consistent message: “We are not yourbattlefield.”

For many Afghans, Pakistan’s strikes are perceived not as isolated security measures but as an extension of decades of interference — from harboring militants to manipulating Afghan politics. This deepens resentment, undermines cross-border trade, and erodes any prospect of genuine people-to-people trust.

Strategic and Political Dimensions

 • Durand Line Dispute: Pakistan’s ongoing unilateral fencing and militarization of the border have inflamed tensions over an already disputed boundary, turning villages into flashpoints.

 • Domestic Diversion: Analysts suggest that Islamabad’s cross-border strikes also serve to distract from domestic political and economic crises, rallying nationalist sentiment by invoking an external enemy.

 • Risk of Escalation: Each strike increases the likelihood of retaliation by Afghan security forces or local armed groups, creating a spiral of violence neither side can control.

Rahmatullah Achakzai is a journalist based in Balochistan, covering human rights, regional politics, and cross-border issues.

Note: The contents of the article are of sole responsibility of the author. Afghan Diaspora Network will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in the articles.