Islamabad | Pakistan and Afghan Taliban forces have agreed on stopping hostilities along the border following deadly clashes over the weekend, sources in the Pakistani government have claimed.
The sources added that the Afghan side initiated the request for a ceasefire following clashes that caused casualties on both sides.
The sources further said that the Afghan Taliban government has “communicated their resolve to not ‘allow any group to use Afghan soil against any country to cause harm'”.
The Pakistani side claimed that at least 13 Taliban soldiers died in Pakistani retaliation as militants linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) allegedly tried to enter Pakistan near Kurram and North Waziristan points overnight on December 28.
Meanwhile, sources in Afghanistan’s Taliban-run defence ministry confirmed to WION the killing of at least three soldiers while reporting injuries to nine others.
The fresh escalation comes amid Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, claiming Pakistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, in air strikes near the border early this week. According to sources in Pakistan, these strikes were targeted “hideouts of terrorists.” Still, Islamabad never confirmed performing the cross-border attack.
Tensions between the two countries have been escalating since the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021. Earlier this year, the Pakistani military had launched attacks on Afghanistan’s border regions in March, killing eight civilians, according to the Taliban authorities.
