America News Agency

According to a CNN report, the Afghan Taliban stated that Pakistan continued its attacks early Friday morning on areas in several Afghan provinces, including the capital Kabul.

Islamabad, however, said that the strikes were in response to an attack launched by Kabul on Thursday.

According to the BBC, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja M Asif announced “open war” on the Afghan Taliban government in a strongly worded post on his X account.

The statement reportedly came after a series of attacks on major Afghan cities following an assault by Afghan forces on Pakistani units. In his statement, Khawaja said: “Pakistan made every effort through direct channels and via friendly countries to keep the situation normal. It conducted full-fledged diplomacy. Our patience has been exhausted. Now an open war has begun between us.”

The two sides had agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October after a series of deadly clashes, but fighting later continued.