Pakistan announces 48-hour ceasefire with Afghanistan

Pakistan on Wednesday said a 48-hour ceasefire has been agreed with Afghanistan, amid border clashes between the two countries that have killed dozens of people on both sides.”A temporary ceasefire has been decided between the Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban regime, with the mutual consent of both parties, for the next 48 hours from 6 pm today, at the request of the Taliban,” the Foreign Office was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

“During this period, both sides will make sincere efforts to find a positive solution to this complex but solvable issue through constructive dialogue,” the FO said.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Afghan government.State-run PTV News earlier reported that the Pakistan armed forces conducted “precision strikes” in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and the capital Kabul.

Citing security sources, it said in a statement on social media that dozens of foreign and Afghan operatives were killed in these precision strikes.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army said that it repulsed multiple attacks by the Afghan Taliban while killing over 40 attackers in separate incidents of border clashes between the two countries.

“While repulsing the attack, 15-20 Afghan Taliban have been killed and many injured,” the army said, adding that the situation is still developing as there are “reports of further build up in staging points of Fitna Al Khwarij and Afghan Taliban.” The term Fitna al-Khawarij is used by Pakistani authorities to refer to militants of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).