Afghanistan Claims Pakistani Jet Downed In Jalalabad, Pakistan Denies

On February 28, 2026, Afghanistan claimed to have shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Jalalabad and captured its pilot, a statement that has been vehemently denied by Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ministry described the Afghan assertion as 'false and fabricated,' emphasizing that no Pakistani aircraft had been reported lost and that no independent verification supports the Afghan claims. The ministry pointed out the absence of visual evidence, such as crash debris or a captured pilot, and noted that many videos circulating as evidence were outdated or unrelated to the incident, including a misleading image from a 2021 event in Turkey. This escalation follows Pakistan's airstrikes across multiple Afghan cities, including Kabul and Kandahar, in response to what it termed unprovoked aggression from Afghanistan, leading to a significant increase in tensions between the two nations.