Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have agreed to a temporary 48-hour ceasefire on the request of the Afghan Taliban regime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.
“At the request of the Afghan Taliban regime, and with mutual consent, Pakistan and the Taliban have agreed to a temporary ceasefire for 48 hours, effective from 6 p.m. this evening,” read a statement. During this period, it said, both sides would engage in constructive dialogue aimed at finding a “positive and sustainable resolution” to the cross-border aggression over the past week.
The ceasefire follows the Pakistan Army, according to local media report, carrying out precision strikes targeting key Taliban positions in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, successfully destroying multiple strongholds. The strikes reportedly resulted in the deaths of dozens of Taliban militants and foreign operatives.
Citing security sources, several media outlets reported that the Pakistan Army’s strong and decisive retaliatory strikes had left the Afghan Taliban in a state of panic. They said the Afghan Taliban were resorting to false propaganda to hide their failures in the conflict, adding the recent operation had targeted the leadership of Fitna al-Hindustan in Kabul.
Separately, announcing the ceasefire, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that “at the request and insistence of the Pakistani side,” the ceasefire would begin after 5:30 p.m. Kabul time and remain in force “unless there is a violation.” The statement was markedly different from that of Pakistan in not designating any deadline or referring to a follow-up dialogue process.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif warned that he did not expect the ceasefire to hold, alleging the Afghan Taliban had become a “proxy” of India. In an appearance on Geo News, he said he had “doubts” the ceasefire would hold because of the Afghan Taliban’s ties with Delhi. “Right now, Kabul is fighting a proxy war for Delhi,” he said, maintaining Pakistan has the capability of defending itself in the face of any further aggression from Kabul.
“There have been deep strikes in Afghanistan and a ceasefire was agreed on after the intervention of friendly countries, but it is fragile. I don’t believe this will last long,” he said, while emphasizing that Pakistan would respond positively to any constructive dialogue. “If they bombard our border areas or attack our posts, then we have to respond in kind,” he said. “We do not want to fight, but if we are attacked, we have the right to respond,” he added.