Afghan authorities claimed Sunday that they successfully thwarted an attempted Pakistani airstrike on Bagram Air Base, the former largest U.S. military installation in the country, using anti-aircraft and missile defense systems. The Parwan provincial police headquarters, where the base is located north of Kabul, stated that several Pakistani military jets entered Afghan airspace around 5 a.m. local time and tried to bomb the facility. Afghan defenses responded effectively, preventing any damage, according to the statement.

This incident occurred as cross-border fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan entered its fourth day. The police in neighboring Nangarhar province reported firing anti-aircraft missiles from Jalalabad and surrounding areas at the Pakistani jets. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatulah Khowarazmi said forces launched overnight counterattacks with snipers from Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Kandahar provinces, claiming two Pakistani drones were shot down and dozens of Pakistani soldiers killed. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the Bagram claim.

The clashes escalated Thursday night when Afghanistan launched broad cross-border attacks in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday targeting camps of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed militant group blamed for attacks inside Pakistan. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan's Taliban government of harboring TTP fighters, who share ideological ties with the rulers in Kabul but operate against Islamabad. Afghanistan denies providing sanctuary to the group.

Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared after the Afghan retaliation, “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.” Pakistani forces claimed to have seized a key Afghan post and 32 square kilometers in the Zhob sector near Kandahar on Friday. Both sides report killing hundreds of enemy fighters while minimizing their own losses; civilians have also died, including a woman and child in a Nangarhar drone strike and another in Paktia from mortar fire.

The conflict traces back to long-standing disputes over the Durand Line border and militant safe havens. Tensions boiled over after a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October 2025 following deadly clashes, with failed talks in Turkey last November. Pakistan launched initial airstrikes on February 21 in Nangarhar, Paktika, and Khost provinces, claiming to hit TTP and ISIS-K targets after terror attacks in Pakistan that killed dozens. The United Nations has urged restraint amid civilian casualties, while countries including Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. have called for de-escalation.

Bagram Air Base, abandoned by U.S. forces in 2021 and seized by the Taliban, holds strategic importance. Former President Donald Trump last year expressed interest in reestablishing a U.S. presence there. The ongoing war alarms observers due to the presence of groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State in the region.