Pakistan – Afghanistan Agree to 48-Hour Ceasefire after about 50 Killed in Skirmishes

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire on Wednesday evening after dozens of people were killed, and many more wounded, in violence along their shared border earlier in the day.

The ceasefire came into effect 6.30 pm IST. ‘Both sides will make sincere efforts, through dialogue, to find a positive solution to the complex yet resolvable issue’, Islamabad said in a statement.

Over 50 people, including troops, civilians and Afghan Taliban fighters were killed as fresh border clashes erupted between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday night and escalated on Wednesday. This comes days after the two countries clashed last weekend after Afghanistan launched revenge strikes on Pakistan, responding to an attack in Afghani capital Kabul that the country blamed on Pakistan.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan cited the rival to have sought the ceasefire. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan said the ceasefire after fresh border clashes was agreed to on the request of the other side. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the ceasefire was at Afghanistan’s request. Moments later, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the truce was at “the insistence” of the Pakistani side.

His social media post on X did not mention a 48-hour timeframe. All Afghan forces have been instructed to observe the ceasefire “as long as no one violates it,” Mujahid added.

Reports claimed that the Afghan Taliban forces have destroyed a Pakistan Army border outpost and seized a tank that was used by the Pakistani military to target Taliban posts. Both sides accused each other of triggering the deadly skirmishes that spanned Pakistan’s Chaman district and southeastern Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak district.

Afghanistan had said its forces killed 58 Pakistani soldiers during overnight border operations, while Pakistan claimed it killed more than 200 Afghan soldiers, while 23 of its soldiers were dead. The Afghan Taliban claimed that at least 12 people were killed and over 100 others were injured in a Pakistani military strike on Spin Boldak– a key border district between Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and Pakistan’s Balochistan region.

Earlier in the day, Pak said it had killed ‘dozens of Afghan security forces and militants’ in overnight military operations, which underlines the deadliest violence between the neighbours in recent years. Pak also said it had destroyed tanks and military posts as it repelled ‘unprovoked’ assaults.

However, it firmly denied targeting civilians after the Taliban said a dozen were killed and over 100 others wounded in a strike on a border area in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar. Mr Mujahid said a Pak Army border outpost was destroyed and an enemy tank commandeered in retaliation.

In a statement shared on X, Mr Mujahid said Pakistani forces launched an attack on the border district early in the morning using light and heavy weapons. He said several Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by Afghan forces.

“Unfortunately, this morning, Pakistani forces once again launched attacks with light and heavy weapons on Afghanistan in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar, as a result of which more than 12 civilians were martyred and more than 100 were injured. After that, Afghan forces were forced to take retaliatory action,” Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X.

Mujahid claimed Afghan forces returned fire, killing “a large number” of Pakistani soldiers, seizing Pakistani weapons and tanks and destroying Pakistani military installations.

“In retaliatory operations, multiple Pakistani aggressor soldiers were killed, their posts and centres were captured, weapons and tanks fell into the hands of Afghan forces, and most of their military installations were destroyed. However, the mujahideen, with high spirits, are ready to defend their homeland, sanctuaries, and people,” he added.

Violence between the two neighbours has flared since explosions in Afghanistan last week, including two in the capital Kabul, that were blamed on Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban government launched an offensive along parts of its southern border in retaliation, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.

Islamabad has accused Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) on its soil, a claim Kabul denies. In the latest violence, Pakistan’s military accused the Afghan Taliban of attacking two major border posts in the southwest and northwest. The drone footage likely came from one of these attacks.

Pak accused Afghanistan of supporting gunmen who carry out terrorist attacks on its territory. Pak claimed these attacks have increased since 2021, when the Taliban grabbed power. Afghanistan, however, denied these allegations.

It has insisted, as its Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, told India last week during a State visit, the Taliban would not allow its land to be used to stage attacks on other countries. Wednesday’s clashes were the second this week, stoking fears of a wider conflict in a region where terrorist groups like the Islamic State – as well as outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba that target India – are trying to establish a foothold and resurface.

The fighting had stopped briefly Sunday after appeals from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The latest flare-up, the deadliest in the last few years, coincided with Taliban Foreign Minister Muttaqi’s visit to India, which Islamabad views as Delhi trying to reset ties with Kabul. India has also restored full diplomatic relations with Afghanistan and will upgrade its Technical Mission in Kabul to an Embassy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said last week.

This is the second time this week that the two sides have traded fire along their long border. Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have flared in recent days, with a deadly exchange of gunfire stoking fears of a wider regional conflict.

The fighting followed strikes in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and the border province of Paktika last Thursday that the Taliban blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, however, has not officially acknowledged the attacks.