Neural Newscast

[00:00] Vanessa Calderon: Today is Sunday, February 22nd, 2026.
[00:04] Vanessa Calderon: From Neural Newscasts, I'm Thomas Keene.
[00:07] Vanessa Calderon: And I'm Vanessa Calderon.
[00:09] Vanessa Calderon: Today, Pakistan launches airstrikes against militant hideouts in Afghanistan
[00:15] Vanessa Calderon: following a surge in cross-border violence.
[00:17] Vanessa Calderon: We look at the rising diplomatic tensions as Kabul reports civilian casualties from the overnight operations.
[00:26] Vanessa Calderon: And we examine the evidence cited by Islamabad linking recent domestic terror attacks to leadership-based in Afghan territory.
[00:34] Vanessa Calderon: This escalation comes as international pressure mounts for the Taliban to uphold counterterrorism commitments.
[00:41] Vanessa Calderon: Pakistan conducted intelligence-based operations on Saturday night, targeting seven militant camps across the border in Afghanistan.
[00:51] Vanessa Calderon: The Information Ministry says these selective strikes hit Tehrik and Taliban Pakistan sites.
[00:57] Vanessa Calderon: They say it is a response to a string of deadly attacks.
[01:02] Vanessa Calderon: Afghan officials in Nangarhar and Pakhtika provinces report that the bombing killed and wounded dozens of people.
[01:09] Vanessa Calderon: Government spokesperson Zabi Hula Mujahid claims the strikes targeted civilian areas and included
[01:16] Vanessa Calderon: women and children among the victims.
[01:18] Vanessa Calderon: This military action follows a suicide bombing in the Bajar district earlier this week that
[01:24] Vanessa Calderon: killed 11 soldiers and one child.
[01:27] Vanessa Calderon: Authorities identified the attacker as an Afghan national who ramped an explosive-laden
[01:33] Vanessa Calderon: vehicle into a security post.
[01:35] Vanessa Calderon: The military warned after that incident, it would no longer exercise restraint against those responsible, regardless of their location.
[01:43] Vanessa Calderon: Hours before the border strikes, another suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the Banu district, killing two soldiers.
[01:51] Vanessa Calderon: In other news, information minister Atala Tarar says Pakistan has conclusive evidence linking recent events to handlers in Afghanistan.
[02:01] Vanessa Calderon: He specifically cited a suicide bombing at an Islamabad mosque that killed 31 worshippers earlier this month.
[02:10] Vanessa Calderon: Relations between the two nations have been simmering since the Taliban returned to power
[02:14] Vanessa Calderon: in 2021.
[02:16] Vanessa Calderon: While the TTP is a separate entity, Islamabad maintains the operate from Afghan soil with
[02:23] Vanessa Calderon: the help of local leadership.
[02:24] Vanessa Calderon: Meanwhile, Pakistan is urging the international community to hold the Afghan government to
[02:30] Vanessa Calderon: its Doha Agreement promises.
[02:32] Vanessa Calderon: Those commitments require the Taliban to prevent any group from using Afghan territory to launch attacks against other countries.
[02:41] Vanessa Calderon: Kabul continues to deny that the TTP operates from within its borders, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
[02:49] Vanessa Calderon: Mujahid suggested that Pakistan is using these strikes to compensate for its own internal security weaknesses.
[02:56] Vanessa Calderon: Next, we look at the broader regional impact, as these strikes marked the second major cross-border operation since October.
[03:04] Vanessa Calderon: While a Qatar-mediated ceasefire has generally held, recent diplomatic talks in Istanbul failed to produce a formal agreement.
[03:13] Vanessa Calderon: The lack of a formal peace deal means we are likely to see more of these intelligence-based
[03:18] Vanessa Calderon: operations in the future.
[03:20] Vanessa Calderon: As both sides dig in their heels, the security situation along the border remains incredibly
[03:27] Vanessa Calderon: volatile.
[03:27] Vanessa Calderon: I'm Thomas Kean.
[03:28] Thomas Keane: And I'm Vanessa Calderon.
[03:30] Thomas Keane: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
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