Pakistan, Afghan Taliban agree on 48-hour ceasefire: Foreign Office

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban regime have mutually agreed — on the Taliban’s request — to implement a temporary ceasefire for 48 hours starting at 6 pm today, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday.

During this period, both sides will make sincere efforts through constructive dialogue to find a positive resolution to the complex but solvable issue, the ministry added.

Earlier, Pakistan carried out precision strikes on hideouts belonging exclusively to the Afghan Taliban and Khawarij elements in Afghanistan’s Kandahar and Kabul provinces, destroying several Taliban battalion headquarters, security sources said on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the Pakistan Army targeted Battalion Headquarters No 4, 8th Battalion and Border Brigade No 5 of the Afghan Taliban in Kandahar. All targets were carefully selected, located away from civilian areas, and successfully destroyed.

Security sources further said that in Kabul, strikes targeted the command and leadership centres of the group known as Fitna al-Hindustan. The Pakistan Army, they added, has the full capability to deliver a forceful response to any act of aggression.

Earlier, Pakistani security forces foiled coordinated attacks by Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij in the border district of Chaman’s Spin Boldak area in Balochistan and on posts in Kurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing around 50 attackers.

Pakistan Army’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said Afghan Taliban militants launched cowardly attacks at four separate locations in Spin Boldak on October 15. Pakistani security forces responded with effective and forceful counterfire, killing 15 to 20 Taliban fighters and wounding several others.

The statement said the attackers used routes that passed through populated villages, showing no regard for civilian safety.

The ISPR said that the Taliban also destroyed the Pakistan–Afghan Friendship Gate on their side — an act the military described as reflecting the attackers’ disregard for cross-border trade and tribal norms.

In Kurram, ISPR said the militants tried to overrun Pakistani border posts on the nights of 14–15 October but were repulsed. The counter-operations inflicted heavy damage on enemy positions; ISPR reported destruction of eight militant posts and six tanks, and said some 25 to 30 terrorists were killed there.