Pakistan, Afghanistan announce Eid 'pause' in hostilities

Pakistan and Afghanistan yesterday (18 March) announced a halt in fighting during celebrations for the end of Ramadan, after the deadliest strike in their escalating conflict killed hundreds in Kabul earlier this week.

The governments in Islamabad and Kabul said in separate statements that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey had requested a pause in fighting during Eid-ul-Fitr and both agreed.

Cross-border attacks have intensified since last month and Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities of shielding extremists behind the violence on its territory. Afghanistan denies doing so.

On Monday night (16 March), Pakistani jets struck a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital, prompting fresh calls for an immediate end to attacks and talks to end the bloodshed.

Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the government agreed to a halt to its operations from today to 23 March "in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms".

Tarar said, "In case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, [operations] shall immediately resume with renewed intensity."

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said defending Afghanistan was "a national and religious obligation" and the country would respond to any aggression or threat.

Mass funeral

The Taliban authorities have said that around 400 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Monday's strike, and a mass funeral was held for some of the victims yesterday. 

Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers carried dozens of simple wooden coffins from a fleet of ambulances to a mass grave in Kabul, dug in the rocky ground of a rainswept hillside by giant excavators.

At the graveside, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said they were innocent victims targeted by "criminals", days before the end of the Muslim holy month.

"We will undoubtedly seek accountability for them," Haqqani added, and warned those behind Monday night's bombing saying, "We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes."

But Haqqani, who until last year had a $10-million US bounty on his head, also suggested that talks were the government's preferred option to halt the fighting.

"We do not want war, but the situation has come to this," he said. "So, we are trying to solve the problems through diplomacy."

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the ceremony was for identified victims. Some had been sent back to their home provinces for burial.

Identification of other victims was still ongoing, he added.

Health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman told AFP that 50 coffins had been brought to the Kabul site yesterday. 

Identification

Obtaining immediate independent confirmation of exact death tolls is difficult in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with attacks often in hard-to-reach places and with conflicting information.

AFP journalists at the scene on Monday evening and Tuesday morning saw at least 95 bodies extracted from the rubble at the devastated centre.

Jacopo Caridi, the Afghanistan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian NGO, said it also had teams on the ground.

"From what we saw and what we discussed with the others involved in the [emergency] response, we can say that there were hundreds of killed and wounded," he told AFP.

Recovery of bodies has proven difficult because of the debris and collapsed structures, and Caridi described the scene as "shocking", which would make identification more difficult.

"I saw a finger in one place, a foot in another place, a hand in one location. It was really horrific," he said.

Mediation stalled

Afghanistan and Pakistan have faced calls for an immediate end to the conflict, with the civilian death toll mounting and concern about those displaced.

The UN said before Monday's strike that at least 76 Afghan civilians had been killed in the fighting since 26 February and that more than 115,000 people had been forced from their homes.

Mediation efforts, however, have so far proved fruitless.

The focus of Gulf countries, which led early mediation attempts, has shifted to the situation in their own backyard since the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month.

China has sent a special envoy to mediate and pledged to play a "constructive role in de-escalating tensions".

Russia's special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Moscow "will be ready" to help broker talks if both sides request it.

"So far, this has not happened," he told pro-Kremlin outlet Izvestia.