Pakistan-Afghanistan Clashes End – Eid Holiday

Both countries said that such a decision was made due to the upcoming holidays and the requests of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The three countries have been trying to end the cross-border hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan that resumed in February, and were also involved in reaching a ceasefire between the two countries last October.

This week, Pakistan-Afghanistan relations were further strained by an airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. Afghanistan accused Pakistan of a deliberate attack on a civilian hospital, which Pakistan denied.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar announced that Pakistan will suspend airstrikes in Afghanistan at midnight on Wednesday and that the pause will be in effect until midnight on Monday. But “in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident”, operations will immediately resume with renewed intensity, the minister warned.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid did not give a specific time when the pause would take effect, but also promised to respond to any threats.

Pakistan denies that it attacked a hospital in Kabul on Monday, stressing that it attacks only military targets and specifically in this case, an ammunition depot in Kabul. Pakistan also claimed that Afghanistan was greatly exaggerating the death toll.

Afghanistan reported that more than 400 people were killed and more than 260 wounded in the attack on the hospital.

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations soured in late February, and since then there have been cross-border attacks and Pakistani airstrikes on targets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban. This group operates separately from the Afghan Taliban, but the two are closely linked.