KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – At least 512 civilians were killed and 1,236 others wounded in cross-border incidents in Afghanistan between October 2025 and September 2026, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report released on Thursday.
In its latest quarterly human rights report, UNAMA documented 33 civilian casualties, including 13 deaths and 20 injuries, from cross-border attacks between July 1 and September 30, including women and children.
A Pakistani airstrike on a house in Nurgal district of Kunar province on September 21 killed three civilians — a man, a woman and a 16-year-old girl — and wounded four others, including a woman, two men and a four-year-old boy, UNAMA said.
On September 27, Pakistani forces opened fire on three men who were walking home in Barmal district of Paktika province, killing one of them, according to the report.
Two days later, a Pakistani airstrike on a house in Shiltan district of Kunar province killed six civilians, including three girls, two boys and a man. Three other civilians, including two women and a girl, were wounded in the attack, the UN mission said.
In another incident, an airstrike carried out by Pakistani military forces struck residential buildings in Garmsir district of Helmand province overnight from September 30 to October 1, killing at least four civilians — two girls, a boy and a woman — and wounding 12 others, including seven girls, four boys and a woman, according to UNAMA.
The civilian casualties come amid escalating tensions between Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and Pakistan, with the two sides repeatedly exchanging fire and Pakistan carrying out airstrikes on multiple locations across Afghanistan since October last year.
Pakistan says its military operations target militants from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their support networks operating from Afghan territory, which Islamabad blames for a surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the groups responsible for attacks in Pakistan, particularly the TTP and Baloch separatist militants. The Taliban authorities reject the allegations and say militancy in Pakistan is an internal matter.
Despite mediation efforts by countries including China, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the two sides have not yet reached an agreement to end the hostilities.
