Historical map of the Durand Line and Pashtun border regions. Geographic context only: it does not plot the reported strike sites or current front lines. CIA; compiled by Jacksimpson4295 / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain . Source . Proportional display; no additional crop. Pakistan said it struck ten locations inside Afghanistan on September 24 after detecting drones launched across the border. Afghan officials said the strikes hit Kandahar, Paktia and Khost and killed four civilians. The map shows why geography makes this conflict difficult to contain. What the map shows The historical CIA map shows the Durand Line and Pashtun regions on both sides of the Afghanistan–Pakistan frontier. It is provided as geographic background, not a map of the September 2026 operations. The places discussed below are identified from the cited reporting. The map does not plot the reported strikes or independently establish control of any area. The September 24 operation The latest operation expan...

Historical CIA map showing the Durand Line and Pashtun border regions. Via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The map does not show current front lines. Pakistan’s September 2026 airstrikes inside Afghanistan exposed a rupture between former strategic partners. Islamabad accused Kabul of allowing militants to plan attacks from Afghan territory; the Taliban government denied the allegation and accused Pakistan of violating its sovereignty. The dispute is not caused by one event. It combines a colonial-era border, the rise of the Pakistani Taliban and the collapse of a security relationship that Pakistan spent decades building. Pakistan says Afghanistan’s Taliban government allows Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, to operate from Afghan territory and organize attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies the accusation and says Pakistan is using it to justify violations of Afghan sovereignty. Why the latest fighting started On September 21, 2026, Pakistan said it carried out airstrik...