Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 17, 2025
Hopes of an extension of a two-day cease-fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers appear to have been dashed by a Pakistani air strikes on Afghan soil late on October 17 that reportedly killed 10 civilians.
“Pakistan has broken the cease-fire and bombed three locations in Paktika,” a province in western Afghanistan, a senior Taliban official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He added that “Afghanistan will retaliate.”
Ten civilians, including two children, were killed and 12 others were injured in the strikes, a provincial hospital official who also declined to be named told AFP. Among the dead were at least three local cricket players and five other men, according to locals.
Pakistan “conducted precision aerial strikes” in Afghan border areas, a senior security official told AFP. The official said the “precision strike” had targeted a local group of Taliban fighters, the Gul Bahadur Group, which Islamabad says is given safe haven by Kabul.
An RFE/RL reporter in Pakistan’s South Waziristan Province across the border from Paktika also reported that Pakistani drones had bombed Khandar village in the Afghan province’s Argun district.
News of the attacks comes as both sides were seeking to extend the fragile truce. The countries had reached an initial 48-hour cease-fire on October 15, hours after Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan and the sides exchanged artillery and gunfire along their contested border.
As the cease-fire neared its end on October 17, the sides said they had agreed a truce until the conclusion of planned talks in Qatar. Delegations from both countries were expected to arrive in the Gulf state over the weekend.
The recent bout of violence came after Pakistan carried out unprecedented drone strikes in Kabul on October 9 targeting members of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group.
The drone strikes triggered fierce fighting between Taliban fighters and Pakistani security forces on October 11-12, leaving dozens dead and key border crossings closed. It was the deadliest-ever fighting involving the sides.
On October 15, Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar, causing multiple casualties.
Suspected Pakistani air strikes also hit Kabul. The blasts killed at least five people, according to Emergency, an Italian NGO that runs a hospital in the city.
Ground fighting also erupted along the countries’ 2,600-kilometer-long border, leaving several dead on both sides.
On October 17, seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border, another act that threatened to derail the fragile cease-fire. A militant outfit previously affiliated with the TTP claimed responsibility.
The recent violence raised fears of an all-out war between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, longtime allies that have fallen out.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the TTP, which is waging an increasingly deadly insurgency against Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban, which seized power in 2021, denies the allegation.
Taliban fighters and Pakistani soldiers have sporadically clashed along the countries’ border since 2021. But the ferocity of the recent violence and the explosive rhetoric are seen as a major escalation.
With reporting by AFP