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KABUL Hundreds of foreign militants are fleeing a months-long Pakistani military offensive and seeking sanctuary in Afghanistan, bolstering the ranks of Taliban factions and triggering one of the bloodiest starts to the spring fighting season in years, according to Afghan officials and analysts.

The growing influence of the foreign fighters, officials said, was evident over the weekend in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, where a few hundred Taliban fighters overran Afghan army posts, killing 18 soldiers and wounding 10. Eight of the soldiers were beheaded a first by the Taliban in this region before the insurgents vanished into the mountains with seized weapons.

The foreign Taliban fighters beheaded the soldiers, not the local Taliban, said Ahmad Nawid Froutan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. In the past, the local Taliban have never committed such brutality.

The fresh wave of foreigners, with likely ties to al-Qaeda and the ultra-violent Pakistani branch of the Taliban, has added a potential new dimension to the Afghan conflict, threatening more instability in the first year after the United States officially declared its longest war over. With most American and international forces gone, the foreign fighters will further test the already beleaguered Afghan security forces as they battle to fill the military gap.

In the political realm, the cross-border influx is triggering anger among Afghan lawmakers and powerbrokers, potentially tainting President Ashraf Ghanis ongoing efforts to improve relations with neighboring Pakistan and gain their assistance in facilitating peace talks with the Taliban.

Afghans have long accused Pakistan of meddling in their affairs and of using their military and intelligence services to back the Taliban. Even with Ghanis overtures, suspicion of Pakistan remains deep. Both Kabul and Washington have been pressing Islamabad to target the militant havens in its northwestern tribal regions, bordering Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the anger was palpable in the Afghan parliament. In a televised session, lawmakers railed at top police and military commanders for their failure to prevent the Taliban from brutally targeting their soldiers. Some believed that the foreign fighters were aligned with the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, underscoring a prevailing fear here of the militant group, whose base is in Syria and Iraq.

Taliban and Daesh havent got fighter jets or choppers, they havent got heavy artillery and bulletproof military trucks, declared one lawmaker. But they are still able to attack Afghan security forces and behead them. It clearly shows that you guys are not doing your duties properly, and so you should resign.

Their outcry came minutes after Interior Minister Noor-ul-Haq Ulumi informed them that 11 Afghan provinces face high security threats, while another nine face medium-level threats. He placed the blame squarely on Pakistans offensive in its North Waziristan region that he said was pushing the insurgents to enter Afghanistan. The foreigners are behind the recent insecurity in the country, Ulumi told the lawmakers.

In June 2014, the Pakistanis launched their long-promised military offensive in North Waziristan and other border zones. The region is part of the tribal areas where the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda sought sanctuary after the U.S.-led intervention in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

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Foreign fighters are spilling into Afghanistan, helping the Taliban