DOHA, October 19. /TASS/. During a round of Turkey-and Qatar-mediated talks in Doha, the delegations of Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to immediately cease fire on the common border, the Foreign Ministry of Qatar said.
"During the negotiations, the two sides agreed to an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries," the ministry said on the X social network.
The agreement was signed by the defense ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid and Khawaja Asif, as well as delegates of Qatar and Turkey.
The delegations agreed to meeting in the coming days in order to discuss maintaining the ceasefire.
Armed clashes erupted on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday morning. According to the PTV television channel, the Pakistani military delivered a strike on terrorist positions in Afghanistan to retaliate an attack on checkpoints in the Kurram District in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to Taliban Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat, twelve people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. He said that Afghan forces had to retaliate early morning attacks by Pakistani troops.
The Pakistani foreign ministry said on October 15 that Pakistan and Afghanistan had reached a temporary ceasefire for the next 48 hours. The ceasefire came into forces from 4:00 p.m. Moscow time (1:00 p.m. GMT) on that day. The official representative of the Afghan government, Zabihullah Mujahid, accused Pakistan of violating the ceasefire by shelling Afghan territory with mortars. On October 17, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, citing a source, reported that the ceasefire had been extended. On Saturday, Mujahid announced that delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan would hold talks in the Qatari capital later in the day, aimed at resolving their border conflict.