KARACHI: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif and intelligence chief are in Doha to hold talks with their Afghan counterparts, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday, after days of deadly clashes between the neighbors.
The fierce battles between the two neighbors along their long, porous border broke out last Saturday and have led to the deaths of dozens of people on both sides, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes in Kandahar and Kabul before a two-day truce that expired Friday evening.
Pakistan “conducted precision aerial strikes” in Afghan border areas on Friday, a security official said, adding that they targeted the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Friday’s strikes killed three Afghan cricketers among at least 10 people, Afghan authorities said.
The aerial strikes ended 48 hours of calm between the two countries, with defense ministers and intelligence chiefs from the two countries arriving in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday.
“The talks began at 2pm Pakistan Standard Time,” the state-run Pakistan TV reported.
Pakistan’s foreign office said the talks will focus on immediate measures to end “cross-border terrorism against Pakistan, emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border.”
“Pakistan does not seek escalation but urges the Afghan Taliban authorities to honor their commitments to the international community and address Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns by taking verifiable action against terrorist entities,” it added.
Islamabad said the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, which left seven Pakistani paramilitary troops dead on Friday.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that three players who were in the region for a tournament were killed by Friday’s airstrikes, revising down an earlier toll of eight.
Meanwhile, United States (US) President Donald Trump offered to help end hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“I do understand that Pakistan attacked or there is an attack going on with Afghanistan,” he said in a meeting with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
“That’s an easy one for me to solve if I have to solve it. In the meantime, I have to run the USA. But I love solving wars.”
The clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan broke out amid Islamabad’s claims that the Afghan Taliban had been sheltering banned militant groups like the TTP and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which carry out cross-border attacks against Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.
