Pakistan and Afghanistan have temporarily ceased hostilities following weeks of border clashes and cross-border strikes.
The latest round of clashes between the two erstwhile allies began in late February after Islamabad accused Kabul of harbouring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government rejected the accusation.
The pause in hostilities was announced on 18 March by Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar. The halt encompassed 19-24 March in order to mark the Islamic festival of Eid, and the move was reciprocated by the Afghan authorities.
Diplomatic efforts by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey played a key role in the cessation of these cross-border strikes.
The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, but the recent clashes are among the deadliest between the two sides. Border tensions came to the fore in October 2025 after border attacks by Pakistan, and a ceasefire was later put in place due to Turkish and Qatari intervention.
However, Islamabad recommenced strikes in late February against what it said was “terrorist infrastructure” within Afghanistan. In the latest round, Pakistan employed airpower, while Afghanistan resorted to drone attacks, and both resulted in rising military and civilian casualties.
The Taliban responded with border attacks, in response to which the Pakistan military launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (Righteous Fury) on 26 February.
Islamabad said it only targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in Kabul, Nangarhar and along the Pakistan-Afghan border, along with strikes on military bases, ammunition dumps and weapon storage sites.
In response to these attacks, Afghan forces struck more than 50 Pakistani border posts and also targeted locations within Pakistan. Pakistani officials claimed that more than 40 enemy posts were destroyed, along with the capture of 250+ outposts, including some in Khyber and North and South Waziristan sectors.
Under Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, several Afghan cities and urban centres were targeted by the Pakistan military, including Kabul and Kandahar. An airstrike on 16 March was against what Islamabad said was an ammunition storage site located at Camp Phoenix, a former NATO camp on the outskirts of Kabul.
In an interview with a domestic television channel, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations, said precision-guided munitions were used to strike the ammunition storage site. He added that secondary explosions following the strike indicated that missiles, ammunition, drones and equipment stored within had exploded.
However, Taliban officials denied the site was used for ammunition storage. They said it was a drug rehabilitation facility, with the strike resulting in the deaths of around 400 civilians.
by Mike Rajkumar
