Early on 16 April 2022, Pakistani security forces launched airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Khost and Kunar. Afghan officials confirmed that at least 45 people were killed and 22 more were injured in the airstrikes. Hundreds of demonstrators later gathered in Khost city to protest the raids. The airstrikes targeted villages where Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistani Taliban) militants have allegedly been sheltering after unidentified assailants killed seven Pakistani soldiers in an attack in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region the previous week.