By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD/KABUL (Reuters) -Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to a right away ceasefire throughout talks in Doha, either side mentioned on Sunday, after every week of fierce border clashes, the worst violence between the South Asian neighbours because the Taliban seized energy in Kabul in 2021.
The ceasefire “has been finalised”, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif posted on X on Sunday, saying either side would meet once more on October 25 in Istanbul to debate “detailed issues”.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned in an announcement the events agreed on a whole and significant ceasefire.
Qatar’s international ministry, which mediated Saturday’s talks together with Turkey, mentioned the follow-up conferences had been meant “to make sure the sustainability of the ceasefire and confirm its implementation in a dependable and sustainable method”.
MILITANT ATTACKS, AIRSTRIKES
Pakistan and Afghanistan are looking for a approach ahead after the clashes killed dozens and wounded a whole lot. The talks had been led by Asif and his Afghan counterpart, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, either side mentioned.
The bottom combating between the one-time allies and Pakistani airstrikes throughout their contested 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier had been triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in militants who had stepped up assaults in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies giving haven to militants to assault Pakistan and accuses the Pakistani army of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan and sheltering Islamic State-linked militants to undermine its stability and sovereignty. Islamabad denies the accusations.
Militants have been waging a conflict for years towards the Pakistani state in a bid to overthrow the federal government and change it with their strict model of Islamic governance.
On Friday, a suicide assault close to the border killed seven Pakistani troopers and wounded 13, safety officers mentioned.
“The Afghan regime should rein within the proxies who’ve sanctuaries in Afghanistan and are utilizing Afghan soil to perpetrate heinous assaults inside Pakistan,” the Pakistan Military chief, Area Marshal Asim Munir, mentioned on Saturday, addressing a commencement ceremony of cadets.
The Taliban spokesperson mentioned that on the Doha talks, “It was determined that neither nation will take hostile actions towards the opposite, and assist won’t be offered to teams working towards the federal government of Pakistan.”
In a follow-up publish on X, he mentioned it mirrored Taliban’s longstanding place that Afghanistan’s territory won’t be used towards another nation.
The statements made concerning the settlement don’t represent a joint declaration, he mentioned.
AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWS FROM CRICKET SERIES OVER STRIKES
Afghan authorities spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned Pakistan had performed airstrikes in Afghanistan hours after the ceasefire, which started on Wednesday, was prolonged on Friday for so long as the Doha talks continued.
He mentioned the assaults focused civilians, including that Kabul reserved the best to reply however that Afghan fighters had been directed to chorus from retaliating to respect the negotiating workforce.
Afghanistan withdrew from the cricket Twenty20 worldwide tri-series in Pakistan subsequent month after the deaths of three native cricketers that the Afghanistan Cricket Board mentioned had been resulting from army strikes in Paktika province.
Pakistan’s Info Minister Attaullah Tarar mentioned in a publish on X on Saturday that Pakistan had struck “verified” camps of Islamist militants alongside the border areas and rejected that the strikes had focused civilians.
He mentioned militants had tried to launch a number of assaults inside Pakistan in the course of the ceasefire interval.
He mentioned greater than 100 militants had been killed by Pakistani safety forces, the vast majority of them in strikes towards a militant group that he mentioned had carried out Friday’s suicide assault on the army camp.
Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the militant demise toll given or any targets.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar and Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Modifying by William Mallard, Sharon Singleton, Alison Williams and Tomasz Janowski)
