Taliban Establishes ‘Hebati Unit’ as Pakistan Expands Cross-Border Pressure on the Durand Line
The Taliban has approved a new 4,000-member Hebati Unit headquartered in Kandahar and dedicated to Afghanistan’s side of the Durand Line, amid intensified Pakistani strikes and operations targeting cross-border militant infrastructure in 2026. The unit’s leader-linked naming and combat-experienced command appointments suggest the Taliban increasingly views the frontier as a contested operational theater requiring centralized control.