The Bagram air base in Afghanistan reportedly suffered damage after Pakistan conducted airstrikes inside the neighbouring country over the weekend, satellite images showed.
Bagram served as the command centre for occupying US forces until their withdrawal in 2021 and the Donald Trump administration reportedly wanted the Taliban to allow the American military to use it again, apparently as a forward operating base against China. The Taliban rejected the proposal out of hand.
The Afghan defence ministry confirmed the strikes in the early hours of Sunday but didn’t mention any damage to the air base.
Police officials said Pakistani jets tried to bomb the air base but were repelled by anti-aircraft guns. They claimed the base suffered no damage.
However, satellite images obtained by the New York Times showed the Pakistani strikes completely destroyed a hangar and two warehouses at the base, located about 44km north of the capital Kabul.
The airstrikes also destroyed military supplies, the paper reported, citing a Pakistani security official.
On Sunday, the police headquarters of Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said in a statement that several Pakistani military jets had entered Afghan airspace “and attempted to bomb Bagram air base” at around 5am. The statement said Afghan forces responded with “anti-aircraft and missile defense systems” and had managed to thwart the attack. There was no immediate response to the claim from Pakistan.
The airstrikes came as the simmering conflict between the South Asian neighbours reignited last week, with cross-border military clashes entering the sixth day on Tuesday.
Pakistan hit Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, at sunrise on Sunday. One hangar and two warehouses were flattened, according to satellite imagery. A Pakistani military official confirmed multiple strikes aimed at destroying equipment and supplies. Locals heard explosions and… pic.twitter.com/y9KablsJb3
— Elian Peltier (@ElianPeltier) March 2, 2026
In addition to Bagram, security sources in Pakistan claimed their forces targeted and destroyed a military base in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The Taliban claimed their fighters had captured another Pakistani border post in the Kandahar area and the fighting was "still ongoing".
UN officials in Afghanistan said at least 42 civilians had been killed and 104 wounded in the country between 26 February and 2 March.
“The civilian casualties include those caused by indirect fire in cross-border clashes as well as those caused by airstrikes," the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said, adding the toll was “preliminary”.
Pakistan said on Monday that its conflict with Afghanistan was now an “open war”.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring Islamist and ethnic insurgent groups – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army – it blames for carrying out an escalating campaign of terrorism in the country. The TTP militant group, which is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, operates inside Pakistan, where it has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in bombings and other attacks over the years. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing a safe haven within Afghanistan for the TTP, an accusation Afghanistan denies.
The current fighting began when Afghanistan launched a broad cross-border attack last week, saying it was in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday. Pakistan had said its airstrike had targeted the TTP. Afghanistan had said only civilians were killed.
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