Pakistani forces launched missile strikes and drone attacks on Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar in eastern Afghanistan, on Monday afternoon, killing at least four civilians and wounding approximately 70 others. The attacks began around 2 p.m. local time and extended across multiple areas including Manogai district. Afghan provincial officials cited a death toll of three with 45 wounded, while Taliban deputy spokesman Hamtullah Fitrat placed the figures higher at four killed and more than 70 injured.

Among those wounded were around 30 students from Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan University. The Faculty of Education building at the university sustained direct damage in the attack. Residential homes in surrounding neighborhoods were also struck. Neither Pakistani military officials nor the Pakistani government issued any public comment on the strikes.

Local Afghan officials told Pajhwok Afghan News that Pakistani forces used a combination of drone strikes and artillery fire. Taliban military positions are known to exist in the hills surrounding Asadabad, but no confirmed reports indicated those positions were directly targeted in this incident.

The Taliban condemned the Kunar strikes as a war crime in a formal statement, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilians and educational institutions. Deputy spokesman Fitrat listed the casualties and named the university faculty building and residential homes as confirmed strike locations. The Taliban stopped short of announcing immediate retaliatory action but maintained their standing position that Afghan forces are acting defensively in this conflict.

Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid previously stated in an audio message that Taliban forces had not initiated the conflict. His line remains consistent across all recent statements: Afghan forces are defending the population, not seeking escalation.

Simultaneously, fighting broke out overnight at the Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province, a key transit point between southern Afghanistan and Pakistan. A source within Taliban ranks in Kandahar told Amu TV that six Pakistani soldiers were killed in the exchange and one was captured. The body of a seventh soldier was also reportedly recovered by Taliban forces. Taliban forces claimed to have seized a number of light and heavy weapons during the confrontation.

This account is single-source and unverified. Pakistani officials have not publicly confirmed these casualty figures or the capture of any personnel. The Taliban claim that Pakistani forces initiated the clash by firing across the border and killing a local child laborer, prompting the retaliatory engagement. Separately, locals reported Pakistani mortar shelling continuing in the Luqman village area of Spin Boldak.

The cross-border conflict between Taliban forces and Pakistan has now continued for nine weeks, escalating from the initial exchange that began on February 26. The violence has included artillery exchanges, airstrikes, and drone operations across multiple eastern and southern Afghan provinces. The United Nations reported that more than 70 civilians were killed in the first two weeks of fighting alone, with later UN figures placing displaced persons at over 94,000 by mid-April.

Delegations from both sides met in Urumqi, China in early April for a week of talks under Beijing’s facilitation. The discussions ended without a clear agreement. A brief ceasefire observed over the Eid al-Fitr holiday did not hold. The Urumqi talks revealed the depth of mutual distrust: Pakistan pressed for the dismantling of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan facilities in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of Taliban units from zero-point border positions, while the Taliban countered with demands that Pakistan shut down alleged militant training sites inside Pakistani territory.

Pakistan’s core position remains that TTP militants use Afghan territory to conduct attacks inside Pakistan. A UN monitoring group has reported approximately 6,000 TTP fighters operating in Afghanistan. The Taliban have consistently denied allowing any group to use Afghan soil against neighboring countries, though they have not provided independent verification of this claim.

Taliban figures released in early April stated that Pakistani attacks had killed over 750 civilians between February 22 and April 3, with nearly 15,000 mortar rounds and rockets fired into Afghan territory during that period. Pakistani officials have not responded to these figures. The most significant single incident remains the March 16 airstrike on the Omid rehabilitation center in eastern Kabul, which UN figures attributed 269 deaths to. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for an independent investigation, characterizing the strike as a potential war crime.

The UN has documented severe displacement and civilian harm across Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, and Nuristan provinces. The latest Kunar strikes add a university campus to a growing list of civilian infrastructure struck during this conflict. Residents in border regions have described repeated shelling and mass displacement, with families unable to return home during periods of renewed fighting.

Humanitarian access has been compromised by the closure of key routes in remote border areas, complicating relief operations. The World Food Program has separately reported that food prices in Afghanistan remain approximately 21 percent above year-ago levels, with wheat flour costs up between 11 and 16 percent, adding an economic dimension to an already deepening crisis.