Afghan military downs Pakistani fighter jet, captures ejected pilot as fighting continues in 'open war'

Afghan military and police informed AFP on Saturday that it shot down Pakistani fighter jet crashed in Jalalabad city. According to officials, the Pakistani pilot who ejected timely before the crash was captured alive.

Eyewitness accounts suggest that the man parachuted from the plane before being detained. "A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive," AFP quoted Afghan police spokesman Tayeb Hammad as saying.

Spokesman for Afghan military in eastern Afghanistan Wahidullah Mohammadi confirmed the news and said that "the pilot was captured alive". This development comes after Pakistan launched air strikes on 27 February, on the Afghan capital Kabul and southern Kandahar, where Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based.

Pakistani forces opened fire in response to Afghan's border offensive late Thursday. This comes as Pakistan declared an ‘open war’ on the Taliban government in Afghanistan on Friday. According to Pakistan, the airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces were in ‘retaliation’ to Afghanistan's cross-border attack. Latest escalation of violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan raises uncertainty over the Qatar-mediated ceasefire