The Pakistani army on September 23 said it hadshot down at least eight fixed-wing dronesin Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, less than 1,000 metres from the Afghan border. It was the latest reported attempt by the Taliban to target Pakistani forces using this type of drone. One of the drones that Pakistani forces said had been launched from Afghanistan was shot down on September 23 near the Torkham border crossing.
To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Since the conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban began in February of this year, the Taliban have deployed armed first-person-view (FPV) drones – small quadcopters carrying munitions such as mortar shells – to attack Pakistani positions near the border. They have also used larger, fixed-wing suicide drones equipped with more powerful engines, potentially capable of flying hundreds of kilometres.
Propaganda footage published by the Taliban showing FPV drone attacks on Pakistani positions near the Afghan border in October 2025. On September 28, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had delivered a diplomatic protest note to the Taliban over what it described as "provocative incursions", citing 23 drones launched from Afghanistan into Pakistani airspace since the beginning of the month. On March 13, 2026, Pakistan claimed to have shot down two Taliban drones near the capital, Islamabad.
Once close allies, Pakistan and the Taliban entered into open conflict about eight months ago when Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif publicly declared that “relations with the Taliban had deteriorated into an ‘open war’.” The conflict escalated after Pakistan began targeting positions of the Pakistani militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) inside Afghanistan. Also known as the Pakistani Taliban, the TTP is officially recognised as a terrorist organisation by multiple countries and international bodies, including the United Nations, Pakistan and the European Union. The TTP has carried out attacks in Pakistan for nearly two decades and has long-standing ties with the Afghan Taliban, which Pakistan accuses of sheltering and supporting the group.
When Pakistan, which has aerial military superiority over Afghanistan, has struck suspected TTP positions deep inside Afghanistan, the Taliban has retaliated with ground attacks and drones. On February 27, 2026, Afghanistan’s Taliban government claimed to have carried out drone attacks on the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The same day, Pakistani sources published images of what they said were Taliban drones shot down in a suburb of the capital.
To display this content from Telegram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. **'Making a fixed wing drone is not that complicated anymore'** > These drones are roughly two metres in size and could carry between half a kilogram and one kilogram of explosives. They have a very limited military effectiveness and are easy to intercept. They are slow and fly at low altitude.
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