Pakistan's armed forces benefit from good recruitment and retention, bolstered by equipment from its main defence partner China. Islamabad continues to invest in its military nuclear programmes and is also modernising its navy and air force. 

The capability of the Afghan Taliban's armed forces, meanwhile, is declining, with a fall in their ability to use foreign equipment that the Islamist group seized when it returned to power in the landlocked country in 2021.

A lack of international recognition for the Taliban administration has also hurt military modernisation. 

Pakistan has 660,000 active personnel in its defence forces, of whom 560,000 are in the army, 70,000 are in the air force, and 30,000 are in the navy.  

The strength of the Afghan Taliban's military is thinner, with only 172,000 active personnel. The group has, however, announced plans to expand its armed forces to 200,000 personnel. 

Iran offered to help "facilitate dialogue" to resolve conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan after Islamabad declared "open war" on the Taliban government and carried out air strikes on Kabul following border clashes.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to provide any assistance necessary to facilitate dialogue and to enhance understanding and cooperation between the two countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the country's forces "have the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions".

"There will be no compromise on the defense of the beloved homeland and every aggression will be met with a befitting reply," he said, according to a series of posts on the Pakistani government's X account.

A Pakistani aircraft that entered Afghanistan's airspace has been shot down by Afghan forces, Afghanistan's Tolo News reported, citing sources.

A black and white screen with a targeting reticule showed what appeared to be an urban area. Within seconds, two explosions - denoted by black flashes on the screen - happened one after the other.

After the attack, the Taliban warned "an appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time." Analysts told news agency Reuters that this is likely to come in the way of cross-border action. Two attacks targeted security forces in northwest Pakistan in the days after Pakistan's airstrikes.

On paper, there is a wide mismatch between the two sides. At 172,000, the Taliban have less than a third of Pakistan’s personnel.

Though the Taliban do possess at least six aircraft and 23 helicopters, their condition is unknown and they have no fighter jets or effective air force.

Pakistan's armed forces include more than 600,000 active personnel, have more than 6,000 armoured fighting vehicles and more than 400 combat aircraft, according to 2025 data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The country is also nuclear armed.

The TTP was formed in 2007 by several jihadist outfits active in northwest Pakistan. It is commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban.

The TTP has attacked markets, mosques, airports, military bases, police stations and also gained territory - mostly along the border with Afghanistan, but also deep inside Pakistan, including the Swat Valley, where they later shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.

They also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan and hosted Afghan fighters in Pakistan. Pakistan has launched military operations against the TTP on its own soil with limited success, although an offensive that ended in 2016 drastically reduced attacks till a few years ago.

The day before the strikes, Pakistani security sources said they had "irrefutable evidence" that militants were using Afghan soil to attack Pakistan. 

The sources listed seven planned or successful attacks by militants since late 2024 that they said were connected to Afghanistan.

One attack last week that killed 11 security personnel and two civilians in Bajaur district was undertaken by an Afghan national, according to Pakistani security sources. This attack was claimed by the TTP.

Pakistan welcomed the return to power of the Taliban in 2021, with then-Prime Minister Imran Khan saying that Afghans had "broken the shackles of slavery". But Islamabad soon found that the Taliban were not as cooperative as it had hoped.

Islamabad says that the leadership of militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and many of its fighters are based in Afghanistan, and that secular armed insurgents seeking independence for the southwestern province of Balochistan also use Afghanistan as a safe haven.

Militancy has increased every year since 2022 with attacks from the TTP and Baloch insurgents growing, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a global monitoring organization. Kabul for its part has repeatedly denied allowing militants to use Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan.

Even as the fragile ceasefire has held there have been repeated clashes and border closures that have disrupted trade and movement along the rugged frontier. 

Tensions have heated up again between Islamabad and Kabul this week after Pakistan launched airstrikes on militant targets in Afghanistan. Pakistani security sources said the strike killed at least 70 terrorists, while the United Nations said at least 13 civilians were killed.

The attack threatens a fragile ceasefire following border clashes in October that killed dozens of soldiers, the worst fighting between the two countries since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021.

Shehbaz Sharif's statement came hours after Pakistan struck targets inside Afghanistan's major cities overnight.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has condemned the Afghan Taliban for targeting civilians. In a statement posted by the interior ministry on X, the minister said that Pakistan’s armed forces had responded befittingly to the open aggression by the Afghan Taliban.

“The cowardly enemy struck in the darkness of night. The Afghan Taliban made a despicable attempt to target innocent civilians,” he said.

“The nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces. The Afghan Taliban made a terrible mistake by attacking. They will have to face serious consequences. We will not allow our security to be compromised,” Naqvi added.

A black and white screen with a targeting reticule showed what appeared to be an urban area. Within seconds, two explosions - denoted by black flashes on the screen - happened one after the other.

Has Pakistan lost yet another of its prized, top-line, American-made F-16 fighter jets?

Pakistan struck targets inside Afghanistan's major cities overnight, Pakistani and Taliban officials said on Friday, as cross-border fighting intensified following months of tensions and skirmishes between the two countries. Security sources in Pakistan said the strikes involved air and ground strikes against Taliban posts, headquarters and ammunition depots in multiple sectors along the border.

Both sides reported heavy losses, issuing sharply differing figures that Reuters could not independently verify. The strikes mark the most serious escalation between the neighbours in months, threatening a fragile ceasefire along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) frontier and deepening a long-running dispute over Islamabad's accusation that Kabul harbours Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, a charge the Taliban deny.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces carried out airstrikes in parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.

"Pakistani counterstrikes against targets in Afghanistan continue," a Pakistani government spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, said in a post on X, describing the action as a response to "unprovoked Afghan attacks."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday his country's armed forces can "crush" aggressors, hours after Islamabad struck targets inside Afghanistan's major cities overnight.

"Our forces have the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions," Sharif said, according to the Pakistani government's X account.

"The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistan armed forces," he said.

Afghanistan attacked Pakistani forces on Thursday and claimed to have killed and captured dozens of soldiers in retaliation for deadly air strikes days earlier.

Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan including the capital Kabul on Friday, with Islamabad's defence minister declaring the neighbours at "open war" following months of tit-for-tat clashes.

Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly air strikes, while AFP journalists in Kabul and Kandahar heard blasts and jets overhead.

Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies. 

Islamabad has declared "open war" on the Afghan Taliban government following renewed clashes along the shared border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Islamabad has declared "open war" on the Afghan Taliban government following renewed clashes along the shared border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The escalation came after Pakistan bombed Afghanistan's Kabul and Kandahar on Friday, hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for deadly airstrikes earlier this week.

"Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open war between us and you," Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif posted on X.