Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers introduced {that a} ceasefire with neighboring Pakistan would go into impact Wednesday, after a second eruption of cross-border violence in lower than every week that has left dozens of individuals lifeless and injured and seen Pakistan perform unprecedented airstrikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned in a social media publish that a minimum of 12 civilians have been killed and greater than 100 others wounded in cross-border assaults by Pakistani safety forces alongside the border in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. A world medical charity mentioned a minimum of 5 folks have been killed Wednesday amid explosions in Kabul, however the reason for the blasts couldn’t be instantly confirmed.
Mujahid mentioned Taliban forces responded on Wednesday, killing a number of “invading Pakistani soldiers.”
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, mentioned Wednesday that it had recorded “scores of killed and injured Afghan civilians as a result of recent cross-border clashes,” including that it was nonetheless working “to determine the full scale of civilian harm.”
The company known as “on all parties for an immediate end to hostilities to protect civilians and prevent further loss of life.”
Mujahid mentioned that beneath the ceasefire settlement, the combating would cease, “at the request and insistence of the Pakistani side,” at 5:30 p.m. native time (which was 8:30 a.m. Jap). He mentioned the Taliban had instructed all of its forces to watch the ceasefire, “as long as no one commits an act of aggression.”
Chatting with a Taliban-controlled radio tv community, Afghan regional military commander Mullah Gulbuddin Ilyas accused Pakistani troopers of initiating the newest episode of violence.
In an announcement, Pakistan’s military rejected “insinuations that the attack was initiated by Pakistan,” calling them “outrageous and blatant lies.”
“The Armed Forces stand resolute and fully prepared to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan. All acts of aggression against Pakistan will be responded to with full force,” the military mentioned.
Afghanistan and Pakistan reportedly clashed once more close to the nations shared border on Oct. 15, 2025.
Ufuk Celal Guzel/Anadolu/Getty
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s de-facto Taliban authorities have deteriorated for the reason that Taliban retook management of the nation in the summertime of 2021.
The strain escalated on Oct. 9, when the Pakistani air drive carried out its first airstrikes in Kabul. The Taliban mentioned Pakistan’s air drive struck inside Kabul once more on Wednesday, destroying a house, earlier than the ceasefire got here into impact. There was no instant phrase on casualties from that strike.
The worldwide medical charity Emergency mentioned in an announcement Wednesday, nevertheless, {that a} facility it runs in Kabul had admitted a minimum of 40 folks with “shrapnel wounds, blunt force trauma and burns. Ten are in critical condition. Unfortunately, five people were already dead on arrival. The numbers of dead and injured are still provisional.”
“We started receiving ambulances filled with wounded people, and we learned that there had been explosions a few kilometres away from our hospital,” Emergency’s nation director in Afghanistan, Dejan Panic, mentioned in an announcement, including that ladies and kids have been among the many wounded.
Emergency didn’t speculate about what had prompted the casualties, and the Taliban additionally reported the explosion of a gasoline tanker within the capital on Wednesday, seemingly unrelated to the Pakistani strikes.
Pakistan mentioned after its first airstrikes that it took the motion as a result of the Taliban was offering sanctuary and assist for members of Tahrik-e Taliban Pakistani, or the TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, inside Afghanistan. The TTP has staged lethal assaults focusing on Pakistani safety forces and civilians for years.
The Taliban launched a retaliatory offensive in opposition to Pakistani positions alongside the border on Oct. 11, and the violence continued sporadically till Wednesday afternoon.
