Pakistan and Afghanistan exchange heavy fire days after truce – Reuters

The border clashes reportedly took place on the same day Islamabad hosted officials from regional powers

Pakistan and Afghanistan have exchanged heavy fire in border areas, days after they agreed to a temporary pause in fighting, Reuters has reported.

The clashes took place on Sunday in areas between Afghanistan’s Kunar province and Pakistan’s Bajur district, the news agency said, citing officials from both countries.

On Sunday, Islamabad hosted the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye to discuss de-escalation in the Middle East as the US and Israel continue to wage war on Iran.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan used heavy weapons and artillery during the clashes, according to the report.  

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One person was killed and 16 people, mostly women and children, were injured in the clashes, an Afghan spokesperson told Reuters, while Pakistani officials downplayed the exchanges. 

“Some minor violations took place from the Afghan side and we responded to it in the same sector,” a Pakistani official told the news agency.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have engaged in fighting for weeks after Islamabad declared an “open war” in February. Pakistan has struck military and other facilities deep inside Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul.

Islamabad has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering armed groups that conduct cross-border raids and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a mosque in Islamabad in February that killed more than 30 people. Kabul has denied the allegations.

Last week, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike on Kabul’s 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital that killed at least 400 people. 

Islamabad partly attributes the strain in its relationship with Kabul to the latter’s increasing engagement with Pakistan’s longtime rival, India.

China has said it is directly mediating a ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

“The MFA special envoy on Afghan affairs has been shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said last week. “China’s embassies have been in close communication with both sides as well,” he added.