Islamabad: After more than a week of intense fighting that left dozens dead and hundreds injured, Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday. The breakthrough came following days of escalating cross-border hostilities, which had threatened to spiral into a wider regional crisis.
The ceasefire agreement, brokered through diplomatic mediation by Qatar and Turkey, aims to halt the recent surge of violence along the volatile Durand Line the 2,611-kilometre border that divides the two countries. According to the Qatari statement, the two nations have also agreed to establish joint mechanisms to consolidate long-term peace and stability, along with follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure that the truce holds.
High-level delegations led by the defence ministers of both nations met in Doha to discuss “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace along the border,” as stated by Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence. The talks marked the most serious diplomatic engagement between the two sides since tensions reignited earlier this month.
Each side has accused the other of aggression. Islamabad maintains that militant groups operating from Afghan territory have been responsible for a string of deadly attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Kabul, however, rejects the allegations, insisting it does not provide sanctuary to terrorists and condemning Pakistan’s recent cross-border strikes as “violations of Afghan sovereignty.”
The crisis deepened on Friday, when a 48-hour ceasefire expired and Pakistan launched airstrikes across the border targeting alleged hideouts of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. Pakistani security officials, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, said the strikes were in direct retaliation for a suicide bombing at a security compound in Mir Ali, which had killed several Pakistani personnel.
According to Pakistani sources, the operation eliminated dozens of militants, with “no civilian casualties.” However, Afghan officials reported a starkly different account, claiming that at least 10 civilians, including women, children, and local cricketers, were killed in the raids. The Afghanistan Cricket Board responded by announcing a boycott of its upcoming series in Pakistan, intensifying the diplomatic fallout.
On Saturday, thousands gathered in Paktika to attend funeral prayers for the victims. Emotions ran high as Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned Pakistan’s “repeated crimes” and accused Islamabad of deliberately undermining regional peace. “These acts are provocative and intended to prolong conflict,” Mujahid declared in a statement.
The Durand Line, long a source of dispute between the two nations, remains unrecognized by Afghanistan. Pakistan, meanwhile, faces a rising wave of militancy within its borders, as extremist factions including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) intensify their attacks.
In a sharp message delivered at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Army Chief General Asim Munir urged Afghanistan to “choose mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.” He called on the Taliban to “rein in proxies and militants who exploit Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan.”
As regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar call for calm, observers warn that the fragile ceasefire may be difficult to sustain without structural cooperation and trust-building measures. The crisis has underscored the deep mistrust and volatility that continue to define Pakistan-Afghanistan relations a fault line with grave implications for the broader stability of South and Central Asia.