Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Friday (27 February) they were ready to negotiate after Pakistan bombed their forces in several Afghan cities, including Kabul and Kandahar, and Islamabad declared the neighbours were now in "open war".
Afghan and Pakistani forces traded airstrikes and artillery fire along the Durand Line on Thursday night, killing dozens on both sides, as Pakistan’s defence minister warned the two countries were now in “open war” after months of escalating clashes.
Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.
Pakistan’s declaration of an “open war” with Afghanistan must be understood in the context of months of escalating violence, regional analysts have said, describing the latest developments as a significant shift in the nature of the conflict.
Pakistan’s overnight air strikes on Afghanistan’s major cities have deepened a volatile standoff between the neighbours, straining a fragile ceasefire and prompting Islamabad to call the confrontation an “open war.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue, offering Tehran’s assistance to facilitate understanding between its eastern neighbours.
The Taliban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has accused Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilians in recent airstrikes on Afghanistan, telling a senior United Nations official the attacks did not hit armed groups, as the UN confirmed more than a dozen members of one family were killed.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Comments by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggesting that Israel had a biblical right to much of the Middle East drew condemnation over the weekend from countries across the region, which described the remarks as “dangerous and inflammatory”.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from Afghan territory.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has accused Afghanistan’s authorities of fostering conditions “similar to or worse than pre-9/11”, as tensions between the two neighbours intensify amid a surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan.
At least 31 people have been killed and scores wounded in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, during Friday prayers, prompting widespread international condemnation.
An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shiite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than a decade.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is visiting Pakistan as both countries seek to expand trade and unlock new transport routes linking Central Asia to the Indian Ocean, despite ongoing security and infrastructure challenges.
Pakistan’s security forces have killed 145 militants over the past 40 hours following coordinated attacks that began on Saturday across the southwestern province of Balochistan, the province’s chief minister said on Sunday, updating an earlier casualty toll.
Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, president of Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has died at the age of 71 following a prolonged illness, political parties and state media reported on Friday.
Bangladesh and Pakistan on Thursday (29 January) resumed direct flight services after 14 years, marking a milestone in the revival of relations between the two Muslim-majority nations.
A suicide bombing at a wedding in north-western Pakistan has killed seven people, police said, in the latest attack to hit the country’s restive border regions with Afghanistan.
Firefighters were clearing the charred ruins of a Karachi shopping mall in Pakistan on Tuesday (20 January) as they searched for people still missing after a fire that burned for nearly two days and killed at least 67 people, police said.
Fourteen people have been killed after a massive fire tore through a shopping centre in Karachi’s historic downtown, authorities said, as emergency crews continued search and rescue operations amid warnings that dozens remain missing.
The Afghan embassy in New Delhi says Afghanistan and India have agreed to strengthen political and economic cooperation as Pakistan expresses concern over both countries' growing ties.
Pakistan has urged its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Iran because of security concerns linked to continuing unrest, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.
Türkiye is reportedly in discussions to join the defence alliance between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a strategic move that could reshape security dynamics in the Middle East and South Asia.
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