Pakistan, Afghanistan cease fire after air, ground fight

Leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire on Wednesday after fighting ignited over the weekend. Both countries started exchanging air strikes on Saturday, before ground fighting broke out early this week.

Over a dozen civilians were killed and over 100 more injured Wednesday morning when Pakistani forces launched an attack on a southern district on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, a Taliban spokesman said. Afghan forces were pressured into retaliating, according to a statement from the Taliban’s Zabihullah Mujahid. Pakistani soldiers were killed, Afghan forces seized their weapons and tanks, and Pakistani military hideouts were destroyed, he said in a separate statement. Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif described the Taliban’s actions as unprovoked aggression in a Wednesday morning statement.

The same morning, footage showed smoke rising over Kabul after Pakistan launched an airstrike on Taliban targets. However, Taliban leaders insisted the explosion and smoke came from an oil tanker explosion. Soon after, the Mujahid claimed that Pakistan requested the 48-hour ceasefire, which Afghanistan planned to honor unless their opponent violates it.

When did Pakistan and Afghanistan start fighting? Pakistani-Afghan relations began to deteriorate after the Taliban’s 2021 Afghanistan takeover. Relations reached a new low after Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s recent visit to India, one of Pakistan’s biggest enemies. Pakistan made headlines earlier this year after a brief conflict with India.

Dig deeper: Read Travis K. Kircher’s report on Pakistan’s brief firefight with India earlier this year.