ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistani and Afghan officials began talks in Qatar on Saturday to defuse tensions, a senior Taliban official said, after at least 10 people were killed in Pakistani airstrikes following a brief truce.
Kabul had accused Islamabad of violating a 48-hour ceasefire, which briefly put a stop to nearly a week of cross-border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.
Security sources in Islamabad said the latest strikes in the Afghan border areas targeted a militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban, in retaliation for an attack on Pakistani paramilitary troops.
Afghanistan’s Prime Minister Hassan Akhund said “the discussions are indeed underway,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X, in a readout of Akhund’s talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Both Akhund and Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif have spoken with Anwar, who appears to be acting as a mediator in the crisis and “emphasized the need to resolve the issue through diplomatic means,” according to the Taliban readout.
