The death toll from Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika province has risen to 28, all civilians, including women and children. The attacks, which struck remote villages near the border, have drawn international condemnation and urgent calls for accountability from the United Nations.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressed “deep concern” and demanded a full investigation, stating that “cross-border violence only fuels instability and violates Afghanistan’s sovereignty.” The UK has called for an emergency UN Security Council session to address what Downing Street described as “a grave breach of international law.”
For the families grieving in the mud-brick homes of Paktika, such diplomatic language offers little comfort. “We lost six of our children,” said Gul Mohammad, a farmer who lost his nephew and two nieces. “They were playing outside when the planes came.”
The Pakistani government has not officially commented, but security sources suggest the strikes targeted suspected hideouts of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out attacks on Pakistani soil. However, Afghan officials insist that all those killed were local villagers with no militant links.
This incident is the deadliest in a series of cross-border tensions between the two countries since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021. The Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan called the strikes “a blatant aggression” and warned of retaliation.
For ordinary Afghans, already battered by decades of war, poverty, and a collapsing economy, this latest violence is a cruel reminder that peace remains a distant hope. The price of bread in Paktika has doubled this month, and the few clinics still open are overwhelmed. “We have nothing left,” said Fatima, a widow who lost her son. “No home, no food, no security.”
The UK’s demand for UN accountability is welcome, but here in the North of England, where I grew up hearing stories of wars fought far away, I wonder: will it change anything for the working families buried in those destroyed villages? The ‘Real Economy’ – the one that measures a life in loaves of bread and safety for children – has been devastated.
As the international community debates, the bodies are being wrapped in white cloth and laid in the rocky soil. The price of that injustice cannot be counted in pounds or dollars. It is a debt that must be paid with real accountability, not just statements.
