Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday announced a temporary cessation of hostilities, two days after Kabul blamed Islamabad for a deadly airstrike in the Afghan capital that killed hundreds of people at a drug rehabilitation hospital.
Both said they were suspending hostilities ahead of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The three countries have been trying to mediate a ceasefire since Afghanistan and Pakistan resumed border fighting in February, and were instrumental in helping broker a ceasefire between the two last October.
The announcements came shortly after Afghan authorities held a mass funeral in Kabul for victims killed in Monday’s strike.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the suspension of strikes in Afghanistan will begin at midnight on Wednesday and continue until midnight on Monday.
“Pakistan offers this act in good faith and in accordance with Islamic norms,” Tarar said in a statement. However, he added, “in the event of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan,” operations will resume immediately with renewed vigor.
Afghanistan government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid did not specify the timing of the Afghan side’s standoff. However, he said, his country “will respond boldly to any harassment in the event of a threat.”
Pakistan has rejected Afghanistan’s allegations that it targeted the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, insisting that its strikes in Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Monday were against military facilities. It dismissed Afghan claims that more than 400 people were killed as propaganda.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Monday’s attack in Kabul was the worst of the escalating conflict between the two neighbors, now in its third week. Afghan officials put the death toll at 408 people, with 265 injured. The toll number could not be independently verified.
Lots of boxes
The war has seen repeated border clashes and airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the capital, since it began in late February, despite international calls for a ceasefire.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven to militants who attack inside Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 after the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces. Kabul denies the charge.
Bulldozers dug holes in the Kabul cemetery before Wednesday’s mass funeral, which the spokesperson for the Department of Health, Sharafat Zaman, said belonged to more than 50 people whose remains will not be revealed.
A light rain fell as ambulances lined up outside the cemetery and began to unload piles of empty wooden caskets. Some contained the remains of more than one person, Zaman said.
The 2,000-bed Omid hospital was hit around 9pm local time on Monday. It was renamed and expanded about a year ago from a former treatment center as part of the Taliban government’s efforts to end the country’s massive drug addiction problem.
Afghanistan’s vast poppy fields have been the world’s largest source of heroin, and that, combined with decades of conflict and rampant poverty, has fueled the drug addiction that the country’s current rulers have vowed to fight.
The site, close to Kabul’s international airport, is close to the NATO military base, Camp Phoenix, where US troops used to train Afghan soldiers. At the moment it was not clear what was placed in this place. The strike sparked a raging fire at hospitals, with local television footage showing rescue workers sifting through the debris and shining torches on Monday night as firefighters tried to put out the blaze.
In an interview with the Associated Press in Islamabad on Wednesday, Tarar said that Pakistan is “looking only at the terrorist infrastructure.”
“We just went after the Afghan Taliban regime, its military establishment, its terrorist infrastructure, and all the programs that support or encourage terrorists.”
He said the Pakistani strikes “were very accurate and these strikes were carried out at an ammunition depot in Kabul. After that, we saw smoke and flames in the air in Kabul.”
He said the subsequent killings, which he did not list, happened “because there were ammunition, there were technical equipment, there were weapons there in that depot.”
Citizens and addicts
Bodies were still being removed from the smoldering remains of the hospital on Tuesday morning.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike, accusing Pakistan of “targeting hospitals and public places to commit horrific acts.” He said those killed were “innocent and addicted people.”
The war, which has been fierce between the two neighbors, began in late February after Afghanistan launched a cross-border offensive in response to Pakistani airstrikes. The clashes undermined a ceasefire imposed by Qatar in October, after a previous battle killed scores of soldiers, civilians and suspected terrorists.
Pakistan declared last month that it was in “open war” with Afghanistan. This conflict has alarmed the international community, especially since this area is one where other terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, still exist and have been trying to re-emerge.
