Nearly 66,000 Afghans displaced amid fierce fighting on Pakistan border: UN 

The United Nations says nearly 66,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan as heavy shelling and explosions marked a seventh day of fighting along the country’s border with Pakistan.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Wednesday warned of “escalating cross-border hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan and their growing humanitarian impact on civilians and people on the move”.

“The ongoing military confrontation along the Durand Line has reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, damage to critical infrastructure, and the displacement of nearly 66,000 people in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan,” the agency said in a statement.

“These developments risk further displacement, accelerating returns, and exacerbating vulnerabilities in communities that are already overstretched and under-resourced.”

The neighbouring countries are experiencing their worst fighting in years after Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities launched an operation last week against the Pakistani military along the 2,640km (1,640-mile) Durand Line, which separates the two nations.

The Taliban said the operation was in response to deadly Pakistani air strikes in late February.

Pakistani authorities have said the strikes aim to stop armed fighters from using Afghan territory to attack the country following weeks of violence and heightened tensions between the two sides.

Rana Sanaullah, a political adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told Geo TV that Islamabad had achieved most targets, but operations continued.

“Most training centres have been eliminated,” he said, adding that Pakistan wanted “verifiable evidence” that Afghan soil would not be used for attacks.

Fighting along the Afghan-Pakistani border has ebbed and flowed for a week, with both sides claiming heavy losses and territorial gains.

The two countries reported heavy fire on Wednesday, with Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry saying Taliban forces shot down a Pakistani drone and captured seven border posts.

The ministry said 110 civilians, including 65 women and children, had been killed since the fighting began and 123 wounded. The UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has reported 42 deaths.

Pakistan has not commented on Afghan civilian casualties.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry estimated Pakistani fatalities among troops at around 150, while Pakistan says more than 430 Afghan soldiers have been killed.

Al Jazeera has not been able to verify casualty claims from either side.

Meanwhile, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned earlier this week that residents of more than 46 districts across Afghanistan already faced “severe food insecurity” before the intensified fighting broke out.

“Across these provinces, WFP has been forced to temporarily suspend emergency, social protection, school feeding and livelihood activities,” the agency said on Tuesday. “Approximately 160,000 people have been impacted by the suspension of emergency food distributions.”

In Kunar province in the northeast of the country, a 30-year-old labourer told the AFP news agency that the violence had prevented people from getting to the market.

“Thousands of families have left the village” of Sirkanay, said Asadullah, who only gave one name.

“In some houses, only one person has stayed to guard the home, and the rest have left,” he said. “The village has become empty.”