Afghanistan hits ISKP sites in Pakistan, Pakistan denies

Afghanistan has claimed it conducted airstrikes against militant hideouts inside Pakistan, a significant escalation in cross-border tensions that Pakistan has dismissed as false. The Afghan Ministry of Defense stated on Friday, June 19, that its forces carried out the strikes the previous night, targeting what it described as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) facilities in Pakistan's Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Officials said the sites were used to plan attacks against Afghanistan with the support of hostile intelligence networks.

Pakistan's government categorically rejected the claim. The Ministry of Information's Fact Checker stated that no such airstrikes occurred and instead reported that a rudimentary drone from Afghanistan had intruded into Pakistani airspace near Shinko in Khyber. It said the drone was immediately identified and shot down by Pakistan's air defense systems, releasing photographic evidence of the destroyed drone. Pakistani officials accused the Afghan Taliban government of spreading false propaganda to cover up its own patronage of militant groups operating from Afghan soil.

The conflicting narratives underscore a dangerous...