Pakistan to pause Afghan strikes for Eid at request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey

2026.03.18 15:50 An Afghan man walks next to the site where a drug rehabilitation centre was destroyed in an air strike in Kabul on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters Pakistan announced on Wednesday a pause in strikes against Afghanistan, saying the decision was made ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. In a statement, Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said the pause in strikes on “terrorists and their support infrastructure in Afghanistan” would take effect at midnight on Wednesday and remain in place until midnight on Monday. “Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms,” he said. However, he said, “in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan”, the operations would immediately resume with renewed intensity. Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar speaks during an interview in Islamabad on Wednesday. Photo: AP Afghanistan held a mass funeral on Wednesday for some of the victims of what Tehran said was a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul earlier this week. The strike was the deadliest in an escalating conflict between the two neighbours, now in its third week. Afghan officials have put the death toll at 408 people, with 265 wounded. The toll could not be independently verified. Pakistan rejects Afghanistan’s accusation that it targeted the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, insisting its strikes in Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Monday had been against military facilities. It has dismissed Afghan claims of hundreds of casualties as propaganda. The ⁠site ⁠in Kabul hit by a Pakistani air strike this week was used for storing drones and military-grade ordnance, and to train suicide bombers, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday. In an interview in Islamabad on Wednesday, Tarar said Pakistan had “only targeted terrorist infrastructure”. “We have just gone after the Afghan Taliban regim

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