Pakistan and Afghanistan conform to fast ceasefire throughout talks, mediator Qatar says

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to an instantaneous ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry stated on Sunday (October 19, 2025). This follows greater than per week of combating that has killed dozens of individuals and injured a whole bunch.

The two sides agreed to determine mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, in addition to holding follow-up talks within the coming days to make sure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari assertion stated.

Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan have been in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest disaster between them in a number of years, after greater than per week of combating killed dozens of individuals and injured a whole bunch on each side.

The talks have been mediated by Qatar and Turkiye.

Both the governments had despatched their Defence Ministers to guide the talks, which, Pakistan stated, would concentrate on “fast measures to finish cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability alongside the border.” Each nation had stated it was responding to aggression from the opposite. Afghanistan denies harbouring militants who perform assaults in border areas.

Regional powers, together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have known as for calm, because the violence threatened to additional destabilise a area the place teams together with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida try to resurface.

A 48-hour ceasefire meant to pause hostilities expired on Friday night. Hours later, Pakistan struck throughout the border.

Pakistani safety officers confirmed to The Associated Press that there have been strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s jap Paktika province.

The targets have been hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, in keeping with the officers who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t authorised to speak to the media. One stated the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a safety forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.

The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there have been no civilian deaths, they stated.

But Afghan officers stated the aerial assaults killed at the very least 10 civilians, together with girls, kids and native cricketers. The assaults prompted the nationwide cricket board to boycott an upcoming collection in Pakistan.

On Saturday, a number of thousand folks attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat within the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban authorities’s chief spokesman, in an announcement, criticised the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.” Such acts have been deemed provocative and seen as “deliberate makes an attempt” to extend the battle, he added.

The two international locations share a 2,611-kilometre border generally known as the Durand Line, however Afghanistan has by no means recognised it.

Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, particularly in areas bordering Afghanistan. It additionally accuses its nuclear-armed neighbour and rival India of backing armed teams, with out offering any proof.

Pakistan’s Army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to decide on “mutual safety over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.” “The Taliban should rein within the proxies who’ve sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he advised an viewers on Saturday on the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.