New Delhi: Pakistan’s army launched drone strikes against Afghanistan in a flagrant breach of a newly extended truce just hours after agreeing to extend the 48-hour ceasefire until at least as long as dailah talks are on, sending an already wary border into fresh turmoil.
Afghan media, including TOLO News, said the attacks targeted three separate locations on the Paktika-South Waziristan border and followed clashes which have claimed dozens of lives in the past week.
Those strikes were, by all accounts, devastating: One hit a civilian home in Paktika’s arid hinterlands, and two others zeroed in on suspected Taliban military outposts. No immediate fatalities were reported, but the attack shattered already faint hopes for de-escalation. With the news of US airstrikes on three sites, a senior Taliban official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity hit out at the development as “a clear violation of the agreement” and “an egregious act. “Pakistan bombed three positions in Paktika province – Afghanistan will react,” the official railed, highlighting that Kabul is steadfast on its stance of violations of sovereignty.
This perfidy plays out amid a backdrop of tentative diplomacy. Both countries had signed an extension earlier on Friday, with Pakistan’s representatives already in Doha and the Afghan delegation due to reach there on Saturday. And yet, cross-border skirmishes along the disputed Durand Line – from Khost to Kandahar – have continued unabated, killing scores and injuring hundreds.
Pakistan says it is hitting hideouts of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants against Islamabad, a charge fiercely rejected by Kabul.
While delegations huddle in Qatar, the strikes threaten to scuttle mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia and others. Analysts warn of a spiralling conflict that risks sucking in regional heavyweights, with the porous frontier’s low-level violence becoming a powder keg. With artillery echoes barely settled in, the world is watching: Will words in Doha outrun drones?