The Taliban mentioned their leaders are keen to barter with Pakistan as either side declare to inflict heavy losses on their opponents in combating.
Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders mentioned they have been keen to barter after Pakistan bombed quite a lot of main cities, with Islamabad’s defence minister declaring the neighbours in “open war”, following months of tensions and tit-for-tat clashes.
Pakistan struck the Afghan capital Kabul and town of Kandahar, the place Taliban leaders are based mostly, in addition to different cities, on Friday, with combating additionally persevering with alongside the border. Each side have reported heavy losses.
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Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an “all-out confrontation” with the Taliban authorities, posting on X: “Now it’s open struggle between us and also you.”
Afghan authorities spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned the Taliban’s leaders have been prepared to barter with Pakistan to be able to deliver an finish to the violence.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has all the time tried to resolve points by way of dialogue, and now additionally we wish to resolve this matter by way of dialogue,” mentioned Mujahid.
The newest violence erupted after Pakistan’s air strikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered Afghan retaliatory assaults alongside the border on Thursday, escalating lengthy‑simmering tensions over Pakistan’s declare that Afghanistan shelters Pakistan Taliban fighters. Afghanistan denies this.
Mujahid mentioned Pakistani strikes hit components of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia on Thursday night time, and on Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Laghman on Friday.
That adopted Afghan drone strikes that started late on Thursday on Pakistani army positions and installations in northwest Pakistan alongside their shared border.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lieutenant Basic Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, mentioned Pakistani air and floor operations had killed not less than 274 members of the Afghan forces and affiliated fighters, and wounded greater than 400 others, whereas 12 Pakistani troopers have been killed and 27 others have been wounded. One Pakistani soldier was lacking in motion.
Mujahid rejected the claims of a excessive variety of Afghan casualties as “false”. He mentioned that 55 Pakistani troopers have been killed, with the our bodies of 23 of them taken to Afghanistan. He additionally mentioned “many” Pakistani troopers have been captured. 13 Afghan troopers had been killed, he mentioned, and one other 22 wounded, whereas 13 civilians have been additionally wounded.
Afterward Friday, the Afghan authorities mentioned that 19 civilians have been killed and 26 others injured when Pakistan struck the provinces of Khost and Paktika in southeastern Afghanistan.
Casualty claims from either side haven’t been independently verified by Al Jazeera.
Relations plunged
The operation was Pakistan’s most widespread bombardment of the Afghan capital and its first air strikes on the southern energy base of the Taliban authorities since they returned to energy in 2021.
Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based analyst on battle in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says home elements in Pakistan represent a major constraint on its capacity to provoke a full-scale struggle towards Afghanistan.
“This limitation stems from the deep ties between the populations of each international locations, notably the tribes residing on both aspect of the Durand Line,” a 2,575-kilometre (1,600-mile) frontier that’s internationally recognised as Pakistan’s border however which Afghanistan doesn’t recognise as official.
“Consequently, regardless of its substantial army capabilities, Pakistan can not maintain the large-scale bloodshed that an armed battle with Afghanistan would entail,” he informed Al Jazeera.
Relations between the neighbours have plunged in latest months, with land border crossings largely shut since lethal combating in October that killed greater than 70 individuals on either side.
A number of rounds of negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul adopted an preliminary ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye, however the efforts have failed to supply an enduring settlement.
After repeated breaches of the preliminary truce, Saudi Arabia intervened this month, mediating the discharge of three Pakistani troopers captured by Afghanistan in October.
UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres mentioned he was “deeply involved by the escalation of violence” between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the impression that’s having on civilian populations, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric informed a information briefing. Russia, Iran and Iraq are among the many international locations which have known as for a right away finish to the combating.
