War with Pakistan halts school for Afghan border children

This photograph taken on April 13, 2026 shows the damaged rooftop of a school classroom after it was struck by a Pakistani mortar shell during clashes between Taliban security personnel and Pakistani forces near the Durand Line in the Barikot village of Naray district, Kunar province. There are no children in the Afghan border village of Barikot, where the school has been smashed by shells and the playground sits deserted after weeks of war with Pakistan. - AFP

BARIKOT, Afghanistan: There are no children in the Afghan border village of Barikot, where the school has been smashed by shells and the playground sits deserted after weeks of war with Pakistan.

Almost all of the 8,000 residents fled after the conflict erupted in late February, but AFP journalists travelled to the remote area of the Hindu Kush just after the road to Barikot reopened this week.