Kamal Ghorui
Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan spiralled dramatically on Saturday after Afghan forces claimed to have shot down a Pakistani fighter jet over Jalalabad and captured its pilot alive.“A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive,” police spokesman Tayeb Hammad told news agency AFP.Wahidullah Mohammadi, spokesman for the military in eastern Afghanistan, confirmed the Pakistani jet was downed by Afghan forces “and the pilot was captured alive”.Residents told AFP they saw the pilot eject and parachute down before being detained. An AFP journalist reported hearing a jet roaring over Jalalabad moments before two explosions rang out near the city’s airport.Meanwhile, Pakistan said Afghanistan’s jet crash claim was “totally untrue”.The dramatic downing comes just a day after Pakistan carried out air strikes on Kabul and Kandahar, the latter being the base of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The strikes were part of a rapidly escalating tit-for-tat between the two neighbours.According to the Taliban government, Afghan forces had launched a border offensive late Thursday in response to earlier Pakistani strikes on Afghan territory. Islamabad has not yet commented publicly on the reported loss of its aircraft.With air power now directly engaged and a captured pilot in Afghan custody, the confrontation marks one of the most serious flare-ups between the two countries in recent memory, raising fears of further escalation along the volatile border. Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan, including capital Kabul on Friday, with Islamabad’s defence minister declaring the neighbours at “open war” following months of tit-for-tat clashes.Pakistan claimed to have killed more than 270 Taliban fighters and injured over 400 others in airstrikes while Afghanistan’s Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers and targeted what he described as “important military objectives” inside Pakistan.
