China mediates Pakistan-Afghanistan cross-border terrorism dispute
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FO dismisses reports Pakistan declined China’s request for dialogue with Afghan Taliban
BEIJING/PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday dismissed reports that Pakistan had declined China’s push for talks with the Afghan Taliban, saying that “any unnecessary speculation or fabrication of facts in this regard is unwarranted”. The statement from the FO spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, came in response to queries about media reports that claimed Pakistan had declined China’s offer. “Pakistan and China remain trusted partners and close friends, and both maintain regular and close communication on all issues of mutual concern and shared interest. “Therefore, any unnecessary speculation or fabrication of facts in this regard is unwarranted,” he said. Earlier on Monday, China reiterated its offer to continue efforts to ease ongoing border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The most urgent task is to avoid the expansion of the war and return the two countries to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “China is willing to continue to make efforts to achieve reconciliation and ease relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said, adding that Beijing has been mediating between both sides in recent days. The remarks come days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Islamabad and Kabul should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force. There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded. On the night of February 26, the government said Pakistan’s security forces launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border. Operation Ghazab lil-Haq continues As that operation continues, the armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram sector targeted and destroyed important Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij hideouts, security sources said on Monday. “During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape,” a security source said. Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses to refer to the banned TTP. The armed forces also destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the Pak-Afghan border in KP’s Bajaur sector, security sources said. The forces targeted Afghan Taliban posts with “guided missiles”. Security sources vowed that Operation Ghazab lil-Haq will continue until all objectives are met. On Sunday morning, security sources said that armed forces carried out overnight strikes in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, destroying “technical support infrastructure and an equipment storage facility”. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the military action, adding that a tunnel used by terrorists was also destroyed. Later in the day, Tarar said that four civilians were killed and a child was injured after the Afghan Taliban “deliberately targeted the civilian population through artillery/mortar fire from across the border” in KP’s Bajaur district. 2 killed in Bannu; attack on police post foiled Separately, at least two individuals in separate suspected militant-related incidents were abducted and later killed in KP’s Bannu district, sources said. In the first incident, which occurred in Bannu’s Domel tehsil, armed men abducted a well-known figure identified as Malik Nabiullah along with three other people, who were later released. However, Nabiullah was taken to an unknown location and shot dead. His body was later recovered from the area, sources said. Meanwhile, in Bannu’s Bakakhel area near the Tochi Bridge, unknown armed men abducted a young man, identified as Shazeb Khan, from his village late on Sunday. He was later killed, with his body left along the roadside. Investigation was underway in both cases, according to sources. Elsewhere in Bannu, a suspected militant attack on the Fatah Khel police post was thwarted, police sources said. According to police sources, officers detected suspicious movement via thermal cameras, after which they immediately opened fire. The militants fled the scene following the retaliatory firing. Police officials stated that the vigilance and timely response of the personnel prevented a potentially major attack. The Bannu district has been the scene of repeated security incidents in recent months, with both civilians and local security actors coming under attack, prompting targeted operations. On Friday, one attacker was killed while a police constable was injured after terrorists attacked a checkpost guarding a camp of the internally displaced persons in Bannu’s Bakakhel area. Last month, militants raided a mosque and abducted three brothers, two of whom were police personnel and were later killed.
DawnMarch 16, 2026 at 05:01 PM UTCChina ready to continue efforts to ease Pak-Afghan tensions, says ‘most urgent task’ to avoid escalation
BEIJING/PESHAWAR: China on Monday reiterated its offer to continue efforts to ease ongoing border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The most urgent task is to avoid the expansion of the war and return the two countries to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “China is willing to continue to make efforts to achieve reconciliation and ease relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said, adding that Beijing has been mediating between both sides in recent days. The remarks come days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Islamabad and Kabul should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force. There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded. On the night of February 26, the government said Pakistan’s security forces launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border. As that operation continues, armed forces have destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur sector, security sources said on Monday. Security sources said that in the operation against the Afghan Taliban and the TTP, armed forces also targeted Afghan Taliban posts with “guided missiles”. Security sources vowed that Operation Ghazab lil-Haq will continue until all objectives are met. On Sunday morning, security sources said that armed forces carried out overnight strikes in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, destroying “technical support infrastructure and an equipment storage facility”. Later in the day, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that four civilians were killed and a child was injured after the Afghan Taliban “deliberately targeted the civilian population through artillery/mortar fire from across the border” in KP’s Bajaur district. 2 killed in Bannu; attack on police post foiled Separately, at least two individuals in separate suspected militant-related incidents were abducted and later killed in KP’s Bannu district, sources said. In the first incident, which occurred in Bannu’s Domel tehsil, armed men abducted a well-known figure identified as Malik Nabiullah along with three other people, who were later released. However, Nabiullah was taken to an unknown location and shot dead. His body was later recovered from the area, sources said. Meanwhile, in Bannu’s Bakakhel area near the Tochi Bridge, unknown armed men abducted a young man, identified as Shazeb Khan, from his village late on Sunday. He was later killed, with his body left along the roadside. Investigation was underway in both cases, according to sources. Elsewhere in Bannu, a suspected militant attack on the Fatah Khel police post was thwarted, police sources said. According to police sources, officers detected suspicious movement via thermal cameras, after which they immediately opened fire. The militants fled the scene following the retaliatory firing. Police officials stated that the vigilance and timely response of the personnel prevented a potentially major attack. The Bannu district has been the scene of repeated security incidents in recent months, with both civilians and local security actors coming under attack, prompting targeted operations. On Friday, one attacker was killed while a police constable was injured after terrorists attacked a checkpost guarding a camp of the internally displaced persons in Bannu’s Bakakhel area. Last month, militants raided a mosque and abducted three brothers, two of whom were police personnel and were later killed.
DawnMarch 16, 2026 at 08:47 AM UTCChina urges Pakistan, Afghanistan to resolve tensions via talks, not force
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force, the foreign ministry said in a statement published on Friday. Wang urged both sides to remain calm and exercise restraint, hold face-to-face talks as soon as possible, seek an immediate ceasefire and address differences through dialogue, according to the statement. The further use of force would only complicate the situation and intensify tensions, Wang said. “China is willing to continue to make active efforts to help achieve reconciliation and detente between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong on X, sharing the call’s details. The ministry’s statement came after Pakistan on Friday targeted terror camps and associated infrastructure in Afghanistan. Wang and Muttaqi also exchanged views on the situation in Iran, the statement said. Wang told Muttaqi, according to the statement, that Beijing is willing to work with the international community, including Afghanistan, to bring peace to Iran. Souring relations There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded. Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan heightened once again after the Feb 16 vehicle-borne suicide attack on a joint security forces post in Bajaur district near the Afghan border. Terrorists belonging to the TTP attempted to breach the Malangi check post and rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into its perimeter wall after an exchange of fire. Eleven Pakistani soldiers were martyred. A young girl also died, and seven others, including women and children, were injured when a nearby residential building was damaged in the blast. Investigators said the suicide bomber, identified as Amad, alias Qari Abdullah or Abu Zar, was a member of the Afghan Taliban’s special forces from Balkh province. The TTP claimed responsibility for the assault. Then, on Feb 21, a lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were martyred in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district. In its statement, the military reiterated that terrorists were “using Afghan soil” for carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, “violating the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan”. “Pakistan will not exercise any restrain and operations would continue against the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act for justified retribution against khwarij, irrespective of their location,” the ISPR asserted. On Feb 19, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan if attacks continued from across the border, saying military options remained viable. In November last year, Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, had claimed that Pakistan had “bombed” Khost province, and carried out air strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces. At the time, Pakistan had neither confirmed nor denied the strikes, which were reported the same day a deadly suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters saw three personnel embrace martyrdom and 12 sustain injuries. The strikes were reported almost a month after deadly border clashes at the Pak-Afghan border had resulted in the martyrdom of 23 Pakistani soldiers and the killing of over 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists, according to the ISPR. The skirmishes began “on the night of Oct 11/12, 2025, [after] Afghan Taliban and India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij launched an unprovoked attack on Pakistan, along the Pak-Afghan border”.
DawnMarch 14, 2026 at 10:55 AM UTCChinese diplomacy
THERE are signs that China is taking a more active role in trying to resolve the issue of cross-border terrorism between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan had last month launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq after a series of deadly terrorist attacks in this country were traced to Afghanistan. The hostilities continue without any major sign of a negotiated settlement. However, if Beijing’s efforts succeed, perhaps a way out can be found to restore peace while addressing Pakistan’s valid concerns about Kabul offering sanctuary to terrorist groups such as the TTP. The Foreign Office has acknowledged that the prime minister and foreign minister recently discussed the situation vis-à-vis Afghanistan in a phone call with the Chinese FM. “We are engaged in a dialogue process on Afghanistan,” the FO spokesman said. Moreover, China’s ambassador in Kabul and its special envoy for Afghanistan recently met the Taliban FM, with the Chinese foreign ministry saying that these officials were shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan to mediate. “The most urgent task is to prevent the fighting from expanding,” Beijing’s statement, as reported by Reuters, observes. Pakistan is well within its rights to respond to provocations and terrorist attacks launched from across the border — all the more when the Afghan Taliban refuse to take any verifiable and concrete steps to stop cross-border incursions. However, although the hostilities are continuing — the state said it had hit Afghan Taliban targets as well as terrorist camps in the latest strikes — it would be in Pakistan’s interest to wind down the campaign, after getting solid assurances that Kabul will act against Afghanistan-based violent elements targeting this country. Pakistan’s neighbourhood is burning, thanks to the storm triggered by the reckless US-Israeli war on Iran. The state must be prepared for any additional regional fallout of this conflict. Keeping this in mind, it would be better to bring the Afghan campaign to an end. Pakistan has made its point, and hopefully it has been understood in Kabul. China is well-placed to act as mediator due to its strong ties with Pakistan as well as its engagement with Kabul. In fact, China is itself affected by terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, and would be able to understand Pakistan’s concern. If reports are true, Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a personal interest in resolving the Pak-Afghan dispute. The usual meditators — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkiye — are preoccupied with the war in the Middle East. Therefore, Pakistan should work closely with China to reach a peaceful solution with Afghanistan. The main goal of this endeavour should be to get ironclad guarantees from Kabul that it will stop anti-Pakistan terrorist groups in Afghanistan from targeting this country. From thereon, a normal bilateral relationship can commence. Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2026
DawnMarch 14, 2026 at 04:14 AM UTC