The latest round of conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban continued this past week, including airstrikes, cross-border attacks, targeted operations, and a car bombing. The renewed direct clashes that began on September 18 ended a nearly three-month lull in fighting between the former allies.

The Pakistani Air Force conducted airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan reportedly targeting terrorist training centers in response to a recent complex suicide attack in western Pakistan. The Taliban denied involvement in the attack and promised an “appropriate response” to Pakistan’s airstrikes.

The Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani military each heralded their operations as a success and claimed to have inflicted high casualties on the other’s forces. The Afghan Taliban’s support for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) is creating fissures between the two allies.
