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Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire after peace talks in Doha, officials said on Sunday.
The ceasefire brings to a halt the worst border clashes between the neighbours since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul nearly four years ago. The conflict, which erupted a week ago, killed dozens of people on both sides and injured around 300.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, said a ceasefire had been finalised.
“Cross-border terrorism from Afghan territory will cease immediately. Both countries will respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said on X (Twitter), adding that a follow-up meeting was scheduled to take place in Istanbul on 25 October “to discuss the matters in detail”.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the breakthrough. “Under the terms of the agreement, both sides reaffirm their commitment to peace, mutual respect and the maintenance of strong and constructive neighbourly relations,” he said. “Both sides are committed to resolving issues and disputes through dialogue. A comprehensive and meaningful ceasefire has been mutually agreed upon.”
Mr Mujahid thanked Qatar and Turkey for their mediation.
A tea vendor stands near trucks stranded in the town of Torkham by the closing of Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan (AFP via Getty)
In a statement issued on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign minister said the follow-up meetings were meant “to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation in a reliable and sustainable manner”.
The simmering conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated earlier this month, with each side claiming they were responding to aggression.
Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan, claiming they were targeting terrorist facilities. Afghanistan denied the charge and said it had carried out retaliatory attacks.
The clashes erupted after Islamabad demanded that Afghanistan tighten its grip on militants who were allegedly using its territory to launch deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
On Friday, a suicide attack near the border killed at least seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded 13, security officials said.
“The Afghan regime must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan and are using Afghan soil to perpetrate heinous attacks inside Pakistan,” the army’s chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said while addressing a graduation ceremony of cadets on Saturday.
Mr Mujahid said it was decided at the Doha talks “that neither country will take hostile actions against the other, and support will not be provided to groups operating against the government of Pakistan”.
But just as officials from the warring sides were meeting to hammer out the details of the ceasefire, Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said on X that its forces had struck “verified” camps of Islamist militants along the border areas, and rejected that the strikes had targeted civilians.
He said militants had attempted to conduct multiple attacks inside Pakistan during the ceasefire period.
