Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the country’s forces were capable of “crushing” any aggressor, following rising tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan after cross-border airstrikes.

“Our forces have the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions,” Sharif wrote on X, adding that “the entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces of Pakistan.”

Afghanistan’s government said on Thursday that its forces had killed and captured several Pakistani soldiers in an attack on border posts, describing it as a response to airstrikes carried out by Islamabad inside Afghan territory days earlier.

Pakistan’s military did not immediately comment on Kabul’s claims.