Even though Afghanistan and Pakistan apparently prolonged a shaky truce to allow negotiations in Doha, the Afghan side said on Friday that new Pakistani strikes had broken the ceasefire accord.
Reports said that the strikes, which Taliban authorities said hit three places in Paktika region, killed at least 10 individuals. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said that three local Afghan players from the Urgun District in Paktika were among the deceased. This was a tragic revelation. The guys came back after playing a friendly game in Sharana.
Afghanistan Drops Out of the Tri-Nation Cricket Series
The ACB said it was pulling out of the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I series, which was supposed to include Pakistan, since it was so upset and angry about the killings.
The ACB said in an official statement, “In this heartbreaking incident, three players (Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon), along with five other Urgun District residents, were martyred, and seven others were injured…” They were attacked at a meeting when they got back to Urgun.
Media, on the other hand, quoted ACB spokesman Sayed Naseem Sadaat as claiming that the strike killed eight local players. This shows that the first reports of casualties were not quite right. Before, the ACB had dubbed the attack a “cowardly attack.”
Talks in Doha and more fighting at the border
Even though there are reports of a ceasefire violation, steps are being taken to lower tensions. Reports say that the two parties decided to extend their first 48-hour ceasefire until the discussions in Doha, Qatar, are over. A group of people from Pakistan has already arrived, and a group of people from Afghanistan is slated to arrive in the capital on Saturday.
The prolongation of the cease-fire came just hours after a terrible event on the Pakistani side of the border. A suicide attack near the Afghan boundary wall in the North Waziristan province killed seven Pakistani soldiers and hurt 13 more. Pakistan said that a militant drove a car full of explosives into the wall and two more tried to break inside the building but were shot dead. The attack killed six extremists in total.
After the truce was extended, Mohammad Ismail Mawia, a police official for Afghanistan’s Paktika province, revealed that Pakistani planes had bombed the Barmal and Urgun regions, where the cricketers were said to have been killed.
Complicated Truce Relationships
Media reported that a Pakistani security official said that the truce was reached with the Afghan Taliban, not the Islamist militants who are thought to be based in Afghanistan and still threaten Pakistan. This makes things even more complicated. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, had said before that Kabul had told its troops to keep the ceasefire going as long as Pakistan didn’t attack.
The current situation is the most recent escalation since border fighting broke out last weekend after Afghanistan bombed Pakistan in what it called a response to an attack in Kabul. The first battle, which both sides reported different numbers of casualties, stopped when Qatar and Saudi Arabia stepped in.