Afghanistan accuses Pak of shelling outskirts of eastern city, killing and wounding civilians

Afghanistan’s government accused Pakistan’s military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen in the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighbouring countries.

The fighting, which erupted in late February, has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation.

Afghan deputy Government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that “mortars and other heavy weaponry” were used Sunday afternoon to strike rural areas and civilian homes on the outskirts of the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province.

In a post on X accompanied by photos of wounded children, Fitrat said that preliminary figures indicated that one person had been killed and 16 others were wounded, mostly women and children. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the accusations.

The fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Earlier this month, Afghanistan said that a Pakistani airstrike had hit a drug treatment hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The UN humanitarian affairs office has said the total death toll is still under verification. Pakistan has disputed the claim and denied targeting civilians, saying that it struck an ammunition depot. The fighting in February began when Afghanistan launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that it said had killed only civilians.

Islamabad had said the strikes were targeting militants.

Last month, Pakistan declared that it was in “open war” with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.

The two sides declared a temporary truce last week before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The truce expired earlier this week, and renewed fighting erupted on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying that at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan.

Tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been high for months. The most recent fighting has upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that had halted earlier clashes between the two sides that had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants. The two sides differ widely on the casualty figures.

Peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to reach a long-term solution.