Pakistan and Afghan Taliban officials will hold talks in Doha on Saturday, a day after Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory killed at least 10 people and shattered a short-lived ceasefire that had paused nearly a week of deadly border fighting.
State television in Islamabad said Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and intelligence chief Gen. Asim Malik would travel to Qatar for meetings with Afghan Taliban representatives. The Afghan side confirmed a delegation led by Taliban defence minister Mohammed Yaqub had also departed for Doha, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.
The talks follow what Kabul described as a violation of a 48-hour truce that began on Wednesday. Afghan officials told AFP that Pakistani jets struck three locations in Paktika province late on Friday; a senior Taliban official warned Kabul would retaliate. A provincial hospital official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ten civilians were killed and 12 wounded, including two children.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board said three players attending a regional domestic tournament were among the dead, and it announced it would withdraw from a scheduled Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan next month.
Islamabad said its forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” against positions of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction it says is linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistani authorities blamed that group for a recent suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in North Waziristan that killed seven paramilitary troops.
Security disputes over alleged militant sanctuaries in Afghan border areas lie at the heart of the confrontation. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghan territory of harbouring TTP operatives — a charge Kabul denies.
The violence escalated after explosions in Kabul earlier this month and a Taliban offensive along parts of the southern border. Islamabad said the ceasefire would last 48 hours from 1300 GMT on Wednesday; Kabul said it would remain in place until Pakistan violated it.
Reacting to the strikes and the wider confrontation, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and warned that those behind attacks on Pakistan would “pay a heavy price,” posting his comments on X. Taliban spokespeople have urged restraint, saying troops were ordered not to fire unless first attacked.
The Doha meetings, the latest diplomatic effort to contain the cross-border flare-up, will be watched closely by regional actors seeking to prevent further escalation along the volatile Afghanistan–Pakistan frontier.
