Afghan military downs Pakistani fighter jet, captures ejected pilot as fighting continues in 'open war'
Afghan military reportedly shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Jalalabad. This incident follows recent Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan, escalating tensions between the two nations amid ongoing conflict and uncertainty over a ceasefire.
Afghan military and police informed AFP on Saturday that it shot down Pakistani fighter jet crashed in Jalalabad city. According to officials, the Pakistani pilot who ejected timely before the crash was captured alive.
Eyewitness accounts suggest that the man parachuted from the plane before being detained. "A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive," AFP quoted Afghan police spokesman Tayeb Hammad as saying.
Spokesman for Afghan military in eastern Afghanistan Wahidullah Mohammadi confirmed the news and said that "the pilot was captured alive". This development comes after Pakistan launched air strikes on 27 February, on the Afghan capital Kabul and southern Kandahar, where Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based.
Meanwhile, Pakistan rejected Afghanistan's jet crash claim as it called the statement ‘totally untrue.’
Pakistani forces opened fire in response to Afghan's border offensive late Thursday. This comes as Pakistan declared an ‘open war’ on the Taliban government in Afghanistan on Friday. According to Pakistan, the airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces were in ‘retaliation’ to Afghanistan's cross-border attack. Latest escalation of violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan raises uncertainty over the Qatar-mediated ceasefire.
More about Pakistan's Operation Ghazab lil Haq
As a part of ‘Operation Ghazab lil Haq’, Pakistan targeted locations in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, according to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. According to security sources in Pakistan, the operation involved air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts, Reuters reported.
It is the first time Pakistan directly targeted Afghanistan’s ruling establishment in Kabul. It accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militants seeking to overthrow the government in Islamabad while Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies these allegations.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif in a post on X wrote, “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us."
Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, suggested that over 331 Afghan Taliban forces were killed in the ongoing military strikes in Afghanistan. He further noted that more than 500 others injured in the air strikes targeting key military installations in various areas of eastern Afghanistan. He claimed that Pakistan destroyed 102 Afghan posts, captured 22 others, destroyed 163 tanks and armoured vehicles at 37 locations, AP reported.
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry on Saturday claimed that it targeted Pakistani military bases in Miranshah and Spin Wam and destroyed military installations. Afghanistan on Friday said that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the attack. Afghanistan accused Pakistan of targeting civilian areas, destroying homes and killing nearly 11 people.