Afghanistan and Pakistan agree ceasefire after trading their deadliest fire in years. Here’s what we know

Islamabad — 

Afghanistan and Pakistan said they had agreed a 48-hour ceasefire on Wednesday, following days of deadly clashes between the neighbors and former allies.

The fighting followed strikes in the Afghan capital Kabul and the border province of Paktika last Thursday – which the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan, though Islamabad has not officially acknowledged the attacks.

Both sides have confirmed a brief ceasefire that came into effect late afternoon local time.

Experts warn these latest attacks could signal a new era of instability for the neighbors, which have maintained steady and strategic relations for years despite frequent skirmishes along their disputed border.

Here’s what we know about the violence, which prompted calls to de-escalate from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and an offer from US President Donald Trump to broker peace.

Sharpest escalation in years

The Taliban accused Pakistan of conducting an “unprecedented, violent and reprehensible” attack on targets in Kabul and Paktika on Thursday night last week.

While Islamabad hasn’t commented on the attacks, Lt. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, a Pakistani military official, told a press briefing Friday there is “evidence” that “Afghanistan is being used as a base of operations for carrying out terrorism in Pakistan.”

Pakistan has faced a surge in Islamist violence since the Afghan Taliban swept Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has long accused Kabul of harboring the Pakistani Taliban militant group (known as the TTP), which its Afghan namesake denies.

On Saturday night, the Taliban launched what it said were retaliatory attacks against Pakistani forces in various areas near the border provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar.

Pakistan responded to the attack, which it called “unprovoked,” by conducting strikes and raids against Taliban camps in Afghanistan, according to a statement by the military, including what it said were terrorist training facilities and support networks.

Both countries claimed to have inflicted higher death tolls than their neighbor acknowledged.

Pakistan claimed to have killed more than 200 Taliban fighters and other militants, a figure far beyond the Taliban’s nine claimed losses. The Taliban, meanwhile, said it killed 58 Pakistani soldiers – more than double Pakistan’s 23 claimed losses – according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman.

CNN has not independently verified these death tolls.

Before the ceasefire came into effect, around 40 people were taken to a hospital in Kabul following explosions near the capital, according to Emergency, an NGO working in Afghanistan.