Pakistan reported overnight military strikes in Afghanistan's Kandahar region targeting militant hideouts amid escalating cross-border tensions, with both nations exchanging accusations and retaliatory actions.

Islamabad hits Kandahar facility after Taliban drones strike civilian areas and military sites as conflict intensifies.

Islamabad says it hit militant infrastructure in southern Afghanistan after alleged Taliban-linked drone attacks, deepening a rapidly worsening standoff along the border.

Pakistan's president on Saturday warned neighboring Afghanistan's Taliban government that it had "crossed a red line" by launching drone attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan, and hours later the country reportedly conducted strikes on an Afghan drone storage facility.

Repeated appeals from the international community for restraint have had no effect as the fighting, now in its ninth day, continued unabated.

Afghanistan said at least four people were killed in Pakistani strikes on the capital and other provinces. The Taliban’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X Friday that strikes hit civilian homes resulting in the deaths of women and children.

SHANGHAI, March 14 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be resolved through dialogue and consultation,

The State Department will permanently close the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, which has been America’s closest diplomatic mission to the Afghan border.