Pakistan, Afghanistan trade fire ahead of US-Iran talks
Days after Afghanistan and Pakistan announced a temporary pause in hostilities, both sides say they are responding with heavy weapons, raising tensions in the volatile region as Islamabad says it hopes to host potential talks between the United States and Iran.
The border clashes occurred on Sunday, as Pakistan hosted regional powers to discuss de-escalating the war in the Middle East and announced Islamabad could host talks in the coming days.
Officials said both sides used artillery and heavy weapons to hit sites in Afghanistan’s Kunar province and Pakistan’s border region of Bajur.
Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman of the Taliban administration in Kabul, said that at least one person died and 16 people, most of them women and children, were injured in the fire in Pakistan.
Security officials have denied targeting civilian areas, saying Pakistan was only responding to bombardment from Afghanistan.
A Pakistani government official said the Afghanistan claim was exaggerated.
“There were some minor violations from the Afghan side and we responded to that in the same sector,” he said.
The officials declined to identify them because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s worst conflict in years broke out in February, resulting in heavy human losses on both sides.
More than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation center in Afghanistan’s capital in early March, before neighbors halted hostilities, Kabul said.
Pakistan rejected the Taliban’s statements about the attack, saying it “strictly targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
It was announced that there was a break in the clashes due to the Eid al-Fitr, which Islamabad ended last week, and Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia also requested it.
Kabul has not officially announced whether the ceasefire is still in effect.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring and supporting Islamist militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
Kabul denies this, saying militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.
