Overnight, a series of powerful explosions rattled Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. These dramatic events unfolded precisely as the Taliban’s foreign minister engaged in high-level talks in New Delhi with senior Indian officials. This marks the most significant diplomatic visit to India since the Taliban seized control from the U.S.-backed government in Kabul four years ago—a government that India had previously supported.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban, acknowledged the late-night blasts but offered no immediate details, stating only that an investigation was underway.
Social media quickly buzzed with speculation. A prominent former American official even suggested that Pakistan’s military was behind the explosions, attributing them to airstrikes targeting the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (also known as the Pakistani Taliban). Pakistan’s government has long accused this group, which has waged a nearly two-decade insurgency, of planning attacks from safe havens in Afghanistan, allegedly with support from India’s intelligence services. Afghan officials, however, emphatically deny providing any assistance or sanctuary to the group.
“Today’s Pakistani strikes against Afghanistan’s capital are a huge escalation and pose dangerous risks,” warned Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as the American chief negotiator in the peace agreement with the Taliban that ultimately led to the U.S. withdrawal. He provided no concrete evidence to support his assertion that Pakistan was responsible for the explosions.
Interestingly, neither Pakistani officials nor Taliban leaders have publicly commented on the precise cause of the Kabul explosions. Earlier on Friday, Pakistan’s military released a statement confirming it had conducted ‘a series of retribution operations,’ but deliberately kept silent on the specific nature or targets of these actions.
These unsettling blasts occurred right in the middle of a pivotal visit to India by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s leading diplomat. Analysts suggest this diplomatic outreach is likely to provoke strong reactions from Pakistan. Muttaqi was slated to meet with top Indian figures, including Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, and potentially even National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
The growing tensions are clearly reshaping alliances and testing allegiances across the region. India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed nations, were embroiled in a brief military conflict earlier this year. Furthermore, Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban—a group it historically supported with safe havens during their twenty-year insurgency in Afghanistan—has severely deteriorated since the insurgents reclaimed power in Kabul, leading to violent border clashes.
Pakistan’s government is currently under immense pressure following a surge of deadly attacks within its borders, including a recent incident this week that claimed the lives of over a dozen soldiers.
During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated his accusation that elements within Afghanistan were facilitating militant crossings into Pakistan. Later that day, his defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, informed parliament that a delegation would soon depart for Kabul to pressure Afghan authorities to dismantle these alleged militant safe havens, which Pakistan claims are used to launch attacks.
Should Pakistan indeed have carried out strikes on Kabul, the timing would strongly suggest a deliberate message to the Taliban leadership: closer ties with India would not be tolerated.
India, despite past grievances, has recently adopted a warmer stance towards the Taliban government. However, during the Taliban’s previous rule in the 1990s and their prolonged insurgency, relations were fraught with suspicion. This stems partly from two incidents still deeply sensitive for Indians: the accusation that the Taliban harbored hijackers of an Indian plane in 1999 (which landed in southern Afghanistan) and the 2008 terrorist attack against India’s diplomatic mission in Kabul, which resulted in dozens of deaths, including four Indian officials.