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Pakistan and Afghanistan connected Wednesday (March 18, 2026) announced a halt successful warring during celebrations for the extremity of Ramadan, aft the deadliest onslaught successful their escalating struggle killed hundreds successful Kabul earlier this week.
The governments successful Islamabad and Kabul said successful abstracted statements that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye had requested a intermission successful warring implicit Eid al-Fitr and some agreed.
Cross-border attacks person intensified since past period and Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities of shielding extremists down attacks connected its territory. Afghanistan denies doing so.
On Monday nighttime (March 16), Pakistani jets struck a cause rehabilitation centre successful the Afghan capital, prompting caller calls for an contiguous extremity to attacks and talks to extremity the bloodshed.
Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the authorities agreed to a halt to its operations from Thursday (March 19) to Monday (March 23) “in bully religion and successful keeping with the Islamic norms”.
Taliban Government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said defending Afghanistan was “a nationalist and spiritual obligation” and they would respond to immoderate aggression oregon threat.
Mr. Tarar said, “In lawsuit of immoderate cross-border attack, drone onslaught oregon immoderate violent incidental wrong Pakistan, (operations) shall instantly resume with renewed intensity.”
Mass funeral
The Taliban authorities person said that astir 400 radical were killed and much than 200 wounded successful Monday’s (March 16) onslaught and a wide ceremonial was held for immoderate of the victims connected Wednesday (March 18).
Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers carried dozens of elemental woody coffins from a fleet of ambulances to a wide sedate successful Kabul, dug successful the rocky crushed of a rainswept hillside by elephantine excavators.
At the graveside, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said they were guiltless victims targeted by “criminals”, days earlier the extremity of the Muslim beatified month.
“We volition instrumentality revenge,” helium added and warned those down Monday night’s (March 16) bombing, “We are not anemic and helpless. You volition spot the consequences of your crimes.”
But Mr. Haqqani, who until past twelvemonth had a $10-million U.S. bounty connected his head, besides suggested that talks were the government’s preferred enactment to halt the fighting.
“We bash not privation warfare but the concern has travel to this,” helium said. “So, we are trying to lick the problems done diplomacy,” helium added.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani said the ceremonial was for identified victims. Some had been sent backmost to their location provinces for burial.
Identification of different victims was inactive ongoing, helium added.
Health Ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman told AFP that 50 coffins had been brought to the Kabul tract connected Wednesday (March 18).
Identification
Obtaining contiguous autarkic confirmation of nonstop decease tolls is hard successful Afghanistan and Pakistan, with attacks often successful hard-to-reach places and with conflicting information.
AFP journalists astatine the country connected Monday evening (March 16) and Tuesday greeting (March 17) saw astatine slightest 95 bodies extracted from the rubble astatine the devastated centre.
Jacopo Caridi, the Afghanistan state manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian NGO, said they besides had teams connected the ground.
“From what we saw and what we discussed with the others progressive successful the (emergency) response, we tin accidental that determination were hundreds of killed and wounded,” helium told AFP.
Recovery of bodies has proven hard due to the fact that of the debris and collapsed structures, and Mr. Caridi described the country arsenic “shocking”, which would marque recognition much difficult.
“I saw a digit successful 1 place, a ft successful different place, a manus successful 1 location. It was truly horrific,” said Mr. Caridi.
Mediation stalled
Afghanistan and Pakistan person faced calls for an contiguous extremity to the conflict, with the wide civilian decease toll mounting and interest astir those displaced.
The UN said earlier Monday’s (March 16) onslaught that astatine slightest 76 Afghan civilians had been killed successful the warring since February 26, and that much than 115,000 radical had been forced from their homes.
Mediation efforts, however, person truthful acold proved fruitless.
The absorption of Gulf countries, which led aboriginal mediation attempts, has shifted to the concern successful their ain backyard since the commencement of U.S.-Israeli strikes connected Iran past month.
China has sent a peculiar envoy to mediate and pledged to play a “constructive relation successful de-escalating tensions”.
Russia’s peculiar typical for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Moscow “will beryllium ready” to assistance broker talks if some sides petition it.
“So far, this has not happened,” helium told pro-Kremlin outlet Izvestia.
