Pakistan and Afghanistan edged closer to full-scale war Friday after Pakistani jets struck Kabul and key Taliban strongholds, triggering hours of cross-border fighting and a fresh spiral in a conflict that has been building for months.

Before dawn, explosions rippled across Kabul as fighter jets circled overhead.

In the south, residents of Kandahar, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban leadership, also reported aircraft and blasts.

Islamabad said it had targeted Taliban defence installations in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar in retaliation for what it described as Afghan-initiated attacks on Pakistani border troops late Thursday.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared that Islamabad’s "patience has run out,” framing the confrontation as "open war.”

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Afghan Taliban defence targets were struck, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif insisted Pakistan’s armed forces were fully capable of delivering a decisive response to what he called aggression.

In Kabul, the aftermath was tense but outwardly calm.

It was Friday in Ramadan, and the capital’s streets were already quieter than usual. There was no visible surge in checkpoints or patrols, though the Taliban government confirmed the air strikes.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said there were no casualties in the capital, even as his administration announced "large-scale offensive operations” along the frontier in response.

The heaviest ground fighting flared near the Torkham crossing, a strategic artery that has become a flashpoint in deteriorating ties. Shelling was heard from mid-morning, and overnight strikes hit a camp sheltering Afghans returning from Pakistan.

"Children, women and old people were running,” said 65-year-old returnee Gander Khan, standing amid rows of tents at the Omari camp.

A Nangarhar provincial official said a mortar shell wounded seven refugees, including a woman in critical condition.

The border has been largely sealed since October’s deadly clashes, but returnees have continued to trickle across under special arrangements.

Both governments issued starkly different casualty counts that could not be independently verified.

Afghanistan’s defence ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, several captured and 19 Pakistani posts destroyed.

It acknowledged eight Afghan soldiers dead and 11 wounded.

Pakistan flatly denied that any of its troops were taken prisoner. A spokesperson for Sharif’s office said at least 133 Afghan fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded, with 27 Afghan posts destroyed. Islamabad reported two Pakistani soldiers dead and three injured.

The claims underscored the depth of mistrust between the two sides and the absence of reliable verification as the conflict intensifies.

At the core of the dispute is Pakistan’s long-standing accusation that Afghanistan is failing to rein in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose attacks inside Pakistan have surged since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Islamabad says the group operates from Afghan territory. Kabul denies allowing its soil to be used against its neighbor.

The latest strikes follow earlier Pakistani operations in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces this week that, according to the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, killed at least 13 civilians.

Cross-border fire was also reported on Tuesday, though without casualties.

Each episode has chipped away at a cease-fire brokered last year by Qatar and Türkiye.

Saudi Arabia recently intervened to mediate the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured in October, and Iran has offered to facilitate dialogue.

Yet diplomacy has struggled to contain a cycle of reprisal that now includes direct strikes on symbolic centres of Taliban authority.

The broader security landscape is equally volatile. Suicide bombings have shaken both countries in recent months, including a deadly attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and a restaurant bombing in Kabul claimed by the regional branch of the Daesh group.

The conflict is unfolding alongside a humanitarian strain. Since October 2023, Pakistan has expelled or pressured millions of undocumented Afghans to leave.

The U.N. refugee agency says nearly 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan last year alone, with tens of thousands more this year. Many were born in Pakistan and had built businesses and families there.

Now those returnees find themselves caught between political brinkmanship and artillery fire.

For years, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been tense but manageable, marked by skirmishes and diplomatic friction.