Afghan families mourn loved ones as border tensions with Pakistan rise

Bismillah Khan returned to his border village in Afghanistan’s Paktia province earlier this month with a dream: to spend the rest of his life in the home he had built with the hard-earned savings from 12 years of working in the Gulf. The man in his 50s had invested everything he earned abroad in constructing a two-storey house for his children and grandchildren. But that dream was shattered within minutes when he awoke before dawn on Monday to the sound of powerful explosions ripping through the village of Mandikhil in Chamkani district. Khan’s house was among dozens of civilian homes that Afghanistan says were struck by Pakistani air raids overnight in the provinces of Paktika, Paktia and Kunar along the two countries’ disputed border. The Afghan government said the attacks killed at least 36 civilians and wounded 163 others, most of them women and children. Pakistan maintained its forces conducted “precise targeting” while striking at armed groups’ hideouts in the three Afghan provinces, saying its air and ground operations killed 29 fighters. Standing amid piles of stone and mud that until recently formed his home, Khan struggles to comprehend what happened. “There were only women and children inside the house,” he said, his voice breaking. Khan’s wife and daughter were killed in the attack, while some 10 other relatives were wounded. “I do not know why our home became a target.” But the pain did not end with the first attack. …