Pakistani Fighter Jet Shot Down in Afghanistan, Pilot Captured

A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Saturday, 28 February, local time. The pilot was captured alive by Afghan authorities.

Afghan military and police authorities, according to AFP reporting on Saturday, 28 February 2026, claimed that the Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad.

“A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive,” said local police spokesman Tayeb Hammad in a statement.

Accounts from local residents to AFP revealed that the Pakistani jet pilot ejected from the aircraft by parachute before ultimately being captured by Afghan authorities.

In a separate statement, the military spokesman for eastern Afghanistan, Wahidullah Mohammadi, confirmed that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down by Afghan forces.

“The pilot was captured alive,” Mohammadi said.

This announcement came after AFP journalists on the ground heard the sound of a fighter jet in the air over Jalalabad, followed by two explosions from the direction of the city’s airport on Saturday, 28 February.

Pakistan’s authorities have not yet issued a direct response to Afghanistan’s claims.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been engaged in fierce clashes since Thursday, 26 February evening. Kabul initially announced cross-border attacks against Pakistan in retaliation for airstrikes previously launched by Islamabad.

Pakistan responded by bombing several areas in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, on Friday, 27 February morning.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s spokesman for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, according to Al Jazeera reporting, claimed that 287 Afghan fighters had been killed and more than 450 others wounded.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, stated that both nations are now in “open war.”

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Taliban-controlled Afghan government, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed that 55 Pakistani troops had been killed in the counter-strikes and many others wounded.

Nevertheless, Mujahid stated that Afghanistan wishes for the conflict to be “resolved through dialogue” and accused Pakistan of “not demonstrating willingness to resolve the matter through dialogue.”