Pakistan Resumes Military Operations in Afghanistan After Eid Ceasefire Ends

Pakistan's military resumed operations against Afghanistan after a temporary pause, dashing hopes of a permanent ceasefire. The foreign ministry confirmed the decision on March 26, and foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi left no ambiguity about what comes next: operations "would continue until the objectives are achieved, and until the Afghan Taliban administration reviewed what he called its misplaced priority of supporting terrorist infrastructure."

The armed conflict began in late February 2026 following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Nangarhar, Paktika, and Khost provinces. Pakistan said the strikes targeted militant camps and hideouts linked to the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic State – Khorasan Province, describing them as retaliation for recent terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Bajaur, and Bannu. After those initial airstrikes on February 21-22, fighting quickly expanded into a broader cross-border confrontation involving airstrikes, artillery fire, drone incidents, and clashes at multiple points along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The deadliest episode before the pause came last week, when Kabul said Pakistani aircraft struck a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital. Kabul said more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital before the neighbours suspended fighting. Anadolu Agency and other outlets put the death toll at 408, specifying that those killed included drug addicts undergoing treatment. Pakistan rejected the Taliban's statements about the strike, saying it had "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure."

On March 18, Pakistan and Afghanistan both announced that they would observe a "temporary pause" in hostilities during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, on the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. Information Minister Ataullah Tarrar announced the terms on X, writing: "Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms," and warned that "in case of any cross-border attack the operation will immediately resume." Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid mirrored the announcement, citing goodwill and the same three mediating states. While acknowledging the gesture, Mujahid added: "Afghanistan will firmly respond to any threat to its sovereignty, territorial integrity, or the safety of its people."

Meanwhile, 22 prominent religious clerics, 11 from each of Pakistan and Afghanistan, urged the two countries to extend the ceasefire in a joint statement released on Tuesday. The statement in Pashto was circulated on social media and called for a "sustainable and dignified" end to the conflict. Those appeals went unheeded. Andrabi told reporters at a weekly foreign ministry briefing in Islamabad that "the pause has concluded midnight between, I think, 23rd and 24th March."

Renewed fighting erupted along the border after the temporary ceasefire expired, killing at least two civilians and wounding others in eastern Afghanistan. Ziaur Rahman Speenghar, a director at the information and culture department in Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistani forces fired dozens of artillery shells into the Narai and Sarkano districts after the ceasefire expired. Afghan border forces returned fire, he said, claiming they destroyed three Pakistani military posts, though the claims could not be independently verified.

Separately, the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, said it had resumed attacks inside Pakistan after observing its own three-day Eid ceasefire. The conflict has occurred against the backdrop of long-running tensions centred on Pakistan's accusations that Afghan soil is used as a safe haven by the TTP and other militants to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies it, saying the militancy is Pakistan's domestic problem.

On the border, the humanitarian toll continued to mount. Trade at the main crossings between the two countries has been suspended since Pakistan launched its first air strikes in October. The Torkham crossing in northwest Pakistan was temporarily reopened on Thursday to allow hundreds of Afghan refugees to return home, officials said, offering a narrow window of movement against a backdrop of suspended commerce and active hostilities.

Although a ceasefire was reached after similar border clashes in October after Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia intervened, no formal talks have taken place this time, despite calls from countries including China and Russia to resolve differences through diplomacy. India's condemnation of the Pakistani airstrikes drew a sharp rebuttal from Islamabad, which rejected New Delhi's remarks as "baseless, misleading and unwarranted." With Andrabi insisting operations will not stop until Kabul changes course on militant support, a diplomatic off-ramp remains elusive.