Kabul, Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan said on Wednesday they were pausing military operations against each other for Eid-al-Fitr, two days after a deadly strike hit a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul. The two sides gave differing accounts of the attack and its target.
Casualty figures and competing accounts of Kabul strike
The Afghan Taliban government said more than 400 people were killed and 265 wounded in an airstrike on Monday night, as people and staff at the centre were praying.
The casualty numbers have not been independently verified. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Wednesday that 143 people were killed and 119 wounded.
Pakistan rejected the Taliban’s statements about the strike, saying it had “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
Pakistan says pause is a goodwill gesture for Eid
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad was pausing military operations due to Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and is set to be celebrated at the end of this week.
Tarar said in a post on X that the pause was on Pakistan’s own initiative and at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. He said it would take effect at midnight on Wednesday and last until midnight on March 23.
“Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms,” Tarar said, adding that operations would resume with renewed intensity if there was any cross-border attack, drone attack or any “terrorist incident” inside Pakistan.
Taliban announces similar halt
The Afghan Taliban issued a similar announcement soon after Tarar.
Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul was calling a temporary halt to defensive operations on the occasion of Eid and also at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
How do you expect the Eid pause to affect cross-border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan?