Free Republic

Pakistan carried out airstrikes on Afghanistan’s two largest cities on Friday, including the capital, Kabul, according to officials from both nations, escalating months of tension and border skirmishes into an open conflict. Beyond Kabul, home to six million people, the strikes hit the southern city of Kandahar — where the Taliban’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, lives — and the border province of Paktia, according to Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government. Pakistan launched the strikes hours after Afghan troops had attacked Pakistani border positions, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials. The Afghan attacks were described as retaliation...

The day after a deadly attack on tourists killed 26 people in the mountain town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, India announced it was closing a border with Pakistan, downgrading its diplomatic ties and suspending a crucial water treaty. The Indus Waters Treaty lays out how India and Pakistan use water from six rivers that flow through both countries. It was negotiated by the World Bank in 1960 and affects hundreds of millions of people on either side of the border. India's foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, told reporters on Tuesday night that the treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan "credibly...