Pakistan jet downed in Jalalabad as Kabul–Islamabad clash spirals toward war

A Pakistani fighter jet has crashed in Jalalabad and its pilot has been captured, Afghan military and police officials said, in what marks a dramatic escalation in the fast-intensifying confrontation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The incident comes as cross-border hostilities between the neighbours surge following Pakistani airstrikes on targets in Afghanistan and retaliatory Afghan attacks across the frontier. Pakistan’s has declared the situation an "open war" after both sides exchanged strikes and casualties mounted, underscoring how quickly the crisis has spiralled beyond routine border clashes.

Officials say Pakistani strikes hit Taliban military installations and posts, including in Kabul and Kandahar, marking one of Islamabad’s deepest incursions into Afghanistan in years.


However, the Afghanistan government on Friday sought to defuse tensions and stated it wanted "dialogue" to resolve its conflict with neighbouring Pakistan.

Afghanistan's defence ministry on Friday claimed that its forces captured 19 Pakistani military posts and 2 bases and that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the clashes as the conflict between the two neighbouring escalated overnight, with Islamabad declaring that it is now in an "open war" with the Taliban-ruled nation.