F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office said this week that there is currently no ceasefire in place with Afghanistan, as tensions surge between the neighbors following renewed hostilities between them.
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a temporary ceasefire in March ahead of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday festival, with Islamabad saying it had halted fighting at the insistence of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye.
The two neighbors were involved in the worst fighting between them in decades after Afghan forces launched what they said was a retaliatory attack against Pakistan in February for earlier strikes. Pakistan carried out targeted military actions in Afghanistan in response, claiming to have killed hundreds of Afghan Taliban members.
“There is no temporary ceasefire in place,” foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Saturday, according to the state-run Pakistan TV Digital.
“There was only a time barred three days pause at Eid. Which was over at that time.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign office said in a separate statement on Saturday that 52 civilians have been killed and 84 injured in cross-border attacks from Afghanistan since Islamabad announced the temporary ceasefire in March.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing its territory to be used by anti-Pakistan militant groups, which, it says, are backed by India, a charge both Afghan and Indian officials deny.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, accuses Pakistan of targeting civilian sites in the country. Bilateral tensions surged this week again after Kabul accused Islamabad of targeting a university in Kunar, among other civilian infrastructure, in attacks.
Pakistan denied the allegations and accused the Afghan Taliban of resorting to indiscriminate and unprovoked cross-border attacks during the week.
Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated in recent months, with frequent border skirmishes and Pakistan carrying out strikes inside Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials say the country’s operations target militant hideouts and Afghan Taliban posts using precision-guided munitions to avoid civilian casualties. Afghanistan says it does not allow the use of its soil for attacks against other countries.
