Fresh clashes near the border with Afghanistan have killed at least five Pakistani soldiers and 25 fighters, Pakistan's army said on Sunday, even as the two countries hold peace talks in Istanbul, Al Jazeera reported.
Source: Al Jazeera
The military's media wing, ISPR, said the movements of two large groups of militants were picked up in the Ghaki area of Kurram district and the Spinwam area of North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday and Saturday, and that security forces engaged both groups as they tried to infiltrate across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Fifteen militants, including four suicide bombers, were killed in North Waziristan and another 10 in Kurram, ISPR said, and a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was recovered.
Source: KUNA (Kuwait News Agency), reporting the ISPR statement
Five Pakistani soldiers were also killed in the firefights, the military said. Awaaz Punjab is not naming the dead soldiers, whose identities had not been released in the reports.
Source: Al Jazeera
What is solid
- Pakistan's military (ISPR) announced the clash tolls and locations in a formal statement on Sunday.
- Pakistani and Afghan delegations are meeting in Istanbul to try to preserve the ceasefire agreed in Doha.
- Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned on Saturday that failure in Istanbul would leave 'open war' as an option (Reuters).
What is only claimed
- The casualty figures and infiltration account come from Pakistan's military; Afghanistan's Taliban government had not commented on the latest clashes and has repeatedly rejected accusations that it harbours armed fighters, accusing Pakistan instead of violating Afghan sovereignty with air strikes.
'Open war' warning over the talks
ISPR pointedly noted that the infiltration attempts were being carried out at a time when delegations of Pakistan and Afghanistan are engaged in talks in Türkiye, casting doubt on the intentions of the interim Afghan government, and said Pakistan has consistently asked Kabul to ensure effective border management, fulfil its Doha Agreement obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by the groups Pakistan calls 'Fitna al Khwarij' — its term for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied factions.
Source: KUNA (Kuwait News Agency), reporting the ISPR statement
Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday that he believed Afghanistan wants peace and that there had been no incidents in the four to five days since the ceasefire was agreed, with both sides complying — but he warned: 'We have the option, if no agreement takes place, we have an open war with them.'
Source: Reuters
Delegations from both countries arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for talks aimed at preventing a return to full-scale conflict, days after Qatar and Türkiye brokered a ceasefire in Doha that halted the most serious border fighting since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021. The violence earlier this month killed dozens and wounded hundreds, and key border crossings on the 2,640-km Durand Line remain shut.
Source: Al Jazeera
Proposals on the table
Taliban-controlled broadcaster RTA said on Sunday that Kabul's delegation in Türkiye had submitted a proposal after more than 15 hours of discussions, calling for Pakistan to end cross-border strikes and block any 'anti-Afghan group' from using its territory. The Afghan side also signalled openness to a four-party monitoring mechanism to supervise the ceasefire and investigate violations. Afghanistan's delegation is led by Deputy Interior Minister Haji Najib; Pakistan has not publicly disclosed its representatives.
Source: Al Jazeera
US President Donald Trump also weighed in on Sunday, saying he would 'solve the Afghanistan-Pakistan crisis very quickly', telling reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Malaysia that he had been briefed on the ongoing talks. Analysts expect the core of the negotiations to be intelligence-sharing — Islamabad handing over coordinates of suspected TTP fighters for the Taliban to act on, instead of Pakistan launching its own strikes.
Source: Al Jazeera