Islamabad, Pakistan – Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities say Pakistani mortars and missiles struck a college and residential neighbourhoods within the jap province of Kunar on Monday, killing a minimum of seven folks and wounding greater than 80.
Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated the strikes hit the town of Asadabad, the provincial capital, in addition to surrounding districts.
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Afghanistan’s Ministry of Larger Schooling stated about 30 college students and professors had been among the many wounded, with Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani College sustaining intensive harm to its buildings and grounds.
Fitrat referred to as the assaults “unforgivable battle crimes” towards civilians and educational establishments.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Data and Broadcasting rejected the account, describing experiences that Pakistani forces had struck the college as a “blatant lie”.
In an announcement posted on X, the ministry stated no strike had been carried out on the college and that Pakistan’s concentrating on is “exact and intelligence primarily based”, although it didn’t explicitly rule out any assault inside Afghan territory.
Afghan and Pakistani officers have individually confirmed to Al Jazeera that the 2 sides have been exchanging hearth alongside their porous border, despite the fact that they’re formally observing a ceasefire. Kunar is a border province.
The competing claims over the assault on the college have now raised fears that the already fragile ceasefire would possibly utterly collapse. The heightened tensions comply with days after peace talks held within the Chinese language metropolis of Urumqi between the 2 sides that Afghan International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi described as “optimistic”.
A course of underneath pressure
The Urumqi talks, hosted by China in early April, introduced delegations from each side collectively for the primary time because the battle’s most intense part in February and March, when Pakistan struck Kabul a number of occasions and declared it was in “open war” with Afghanistan.
Afghanistan described the discussions as “helpful”. Pakistan stated additional progress would depend upon Kabul. The talks ended and not using a formal settlement or joint assertion.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of offering sanctuary to the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, which emerged in 2007 and, whereas distinct from the Afghan Taliban, shares deep ideological, social and linguistic ties with the group. The TTP and different teams have carried out a sustained marketing campaign of assaults throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, in keeping with Pakistani authorities.
Afghanistan rejects accusations that it’s sheltering or aiding the TTP and different anti-Pakistan teams.
Mehmood Jan Babar, a Peshawar-based political and safety analyst, stated the engagement in Urumqi was skinny from the beginning.
Delegations had been on the stage of diplomats, with no political contact all through. Pakistan, he stated, maintained a agency place and demanded motion in writing.
“Till Afghanistan places one thing in writing, no verbal dedication will probably be trusted,” Babar informed Al Jazeera. “That’s what was stated in Urumqi, and that’s the place issues stand.”
![Representatives of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan held week-long informal talks in Urumqi, Xinjiang from April 1 to 7, 2026. The delegations of the three sides included representatives from authorities in charge of foreign affairs, defense and security. [Handout/Ministry of Foreign Affairs for People's Republic of China]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==)
Tameem Bahiss, a Kabul-based safety analyst, stated the result mirrored how little floor both aspect had shifted.
“The negotiations in Urumqi didn’t obtain a transparent settlement or settlement,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Either side could conform to talks underneath stress from regional nations, however as soon as the talks finish, the identical issues return.”
Babar famous some softening on the Afghan aspect.
Muttaqi had reportedly instructed senior ministers to make use of extra restrained language on Pakistan, he stated, given how a lot Kabul has at stake in its relationship with Islamabad.
“However Pakistan’s core place has not modified,” Babar stated.
This isn’t the primary time a diplomatic opening has shortly unravelled.
A ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Turkiye in October 2025 was adopted by continued low-level clashes.
A short lived Eid ceasefire in March after preventing had resumed in February – brokered on the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye – was virtually instantly disputed.
The Taliban alleged Pakistan carried out dozens of mortar strikes in Kunar whereas the truce was nonetheless in impact.
Probably the most contentious episode got here on March 16, when a Pakistani air strike destroyed the Omar Hospital in Kabul, a 2,000-bed habit remedy facility.
Afghan officers put the demise toll at greater than 400. The United Nations recorded 143.
Pakistan insisted that its goal was not the hospital, however close by navy installations and an ammunition depot. The incident stays essentially the most disputed of the battle.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and China have all tried to dealer an enduring association.
Babar stated Pakistan had briefed all of them on its place that cross-border attacks on Pakistani soil had decreased when Pakistan carried out its personal operations.
“That may be a legitimate argument, and it’s holding weight proper now,” he stated.
However Bahiss stated the repeated failures level to one thing structural.
“The primary downside is that Pakistan and Afghanistan have very totally different views of the safety scenario,” he stated. “If each side can not even agree on the character of the issue, it turns into very troublesome for mediators to agree on an answer.”
The Kabul-based analyst added that inside pressures make compromise troublesome on each side.
“Pakistan dangers wanting weak domestically if it accepts imprecise assurances and the Taliban dangers wanting as if it’s yielding to outdoors stress [if it accepts Islamabad’s assertions],” he stated.
The TTP deadlock
On the core of the battle is a dispute that predates the present preventing.
Kabul denies harbouring the TTP and has accused Islamabad of utilizing assaults in Pakistan as a pretext for interference in Afghan affairs.
Pakistan maintains that the burden lies with Kabul to take verifiable motion and has sought written assurances that it says haven’t been offered.
Bahiss stated months of navy stress have yielded little.
“The Taliban haven’t accepted Pakistan’s fundamental demand in the best way Islamabad needs,” he stated. “They might be unwilling due to ideological or historic hyperlinks, or unable as a result of performing towards the TTP might create inside divisions. Regardless of the cause, the result is identical: Pakistan’s calls for stay unmet.”
Babar stated the image inside Afghanistan is extra advanced than a flat refusal.
A number of factions inside the Taliban maintain differing views, he stated, with some dealing with public stress.
He added that the Afghan Taliban had arrested a major variety of TTP members and their households and transferred them from the jap provinces deeper into Afghanistan, although it remained unclear whether or not this constituted a coverage shift or a tactical adjustment.
Afghan officers, in the meantime, argue that Pakistan’s marketing campaign has brought on civilian casualties that harden public opinion with out addressing the underlying drivers of violence.
Talks with out belief?
China’s position as host of the Urumqi talks carries weight. Beijing is Pakistan’s largest buying and selling associate and has vital infrastructure investments in each nations by way of the economic corridor. It has a direct curiosity in stabilising the border.
However Babar stated no settlement is feasible and not using a written assure and a guarantor to implement it.
He pointed to the Doha accord in 2020, by which the Taliban gave a written dedication that Afghan soil wouldn’t be used towards any nation, a dedication Pakistan says was violated.
The Doha Settlement, signed in February 2020 between the US and the Afghan Taliban, dedicated the Taliban to stopping Afghan soil from being utilized by any group to threaten US or allied safety, in change for a full withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
“Pakistan doesn’t need to enter into any settlement that brings it no tangible profit,” he stated. “Till a written dedication comes, nothing else strikes.”
Afghanistan has its personal calls for: That Pakistan preserve borders open, permit commerce, resume visas and accommodate Afghan refugees already within the nation.
Babar acknowledged these as reliable. However he stated Pakistan’s line remained agency – that cross-border assaults should finish in writing first.
“And since that dedication is just not coming,” he stated, “I don’t see any settlement doable within the close to future.”
Bahiss stated exterior mediation can not substitute for belief.
“A reputable verification mechanism would require each side to agree on how incidents are investigated, who verifies violations, and what occurs if both aspect breaks the settlement,” he stated.
“With out that, any settlement will stay fragile and should collapse as quickly as the following assault or accusation takes place.”
