Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday that Afghanistan and Pakistan have reached an agreement for an immediate ceasefire.
This development comes after more than a week of intense conflict that resulted in numerous fatalities and injuries.
According to the Qatari statement, both nations have agreed to create frameworks to ensure enduring peace and stability. They also plan to engage in further discussions in the coming days to reinforce the ceasefire’s longevity.
The Pakistani Air Force reported that their recent operations led to the deaths of numerous combatants, with no civilian casualties.
However, Afghan authorities countered this claim, stating that the air raids resulted in the deaths of at least 10 civilians, including women, children, and local cricket players.
In response to these attacks, Afghanistan’s national cricket board has decided to cancel their participation in an upcoming series scheduled to take place in Pakistan.
On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika.
They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticised the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”
Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.
The two countries share a 2611-kilometre border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognised it.
Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan.
It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbour and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.
Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”
“The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
