Turkey's Erdogan offers to try to revive a truce as Pakistan-Afghan
border clashes enter sixth day
[March 05, 2026]
By SUZAN FRASER and MUNIR AHMED
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday
offered to mediate for a new ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan
as border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan entered their sixth
day. Pakistan’s army chief said lasting peace depends on Kabul cutting
ties with militants targeting his country.
The conflict erupted last week with Afghanistan launching attacks on
Thursday in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous weekend.
Since then, Pakistan has carried out operations along the border and
declared it was in an “open war” with Afghanistan, alarming the
international community.
The ongoing clashes ended an earlier ceasefire brokered by Qatar and
Turkey in October, when the two neighbors had again come close to a war.
The truce, signed in Qatar at the time, was followed by six days of
talks in Istanbul, which resulted in an agreement to extend the truce
and hold a third round of negotiations in November.
Those talks, held on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 failed to produce any
breakthrough and the process stalled.
According to a statement from the Turkish presidential office, Erdogan,
in a telephone call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
“condemned the terrorist attacks in Pakistan” and said Turkey would seek
to "contribute to the reestablishment of the ceasefire between Pakistan
and Afghanistan.”
Sharif’s office did not directly confirm Erdogan’s offer but said the
two leaders discussed tensions along the 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile)
-long Afghan-Pakistan border. It said the two “exchanged views on recent
developments" and would remain in closer "contact in our shared pursuit
of peace and stability in the region.”
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said peace
between Pakistan and Afghanistan depends on the Afghan Taliban severing
ties with militants targeting Pakistan, warning that Islamabad would
take “all necessary measures” against threats emanating from Afghan
soil.
Munir made the remarks during a visit to a former stronghold of
Pakistani Taliban in Wana district bordering Afghanistan. According to a
military statement, Munir said the use of Afghan territory by militant
groups to launch attacks inside Pakistan was “unacceptable.” He
reiterated that “peace could only prevail between both sides if the
Afghan Taliban renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist
organizations”.
There was also no immediate comment on Erdogan's offer from the Taliban
government in Afghanistan but Kabul may see the Turkish president's
comments as one-sided or even openly supporting Islamabad.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had reached out to Afghan
Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi last week to discuss the cross-border
situation, according to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
ministry released no further details.
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Enayatullah Khowarazmi , left, spokesman of the Defence Ministry,
and Hamdullah Fitrat ,deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan speak during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan,
Tuesday, March 3, 2026.(AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
Since the latest fighting broke out, both sides have since claimed
inflicting heavy losses on each other in fighting that has mainly
focused in Pakistan's border regions in the northwestern Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province and southwestern Balochistan province.
Casualty reports have vastly conflicted. The border area — where
militant groups, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, are
also active — is not accessible to the media and the Associated
Press could not independently confirm any of the casualty reports.
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its forces had
killed or wounded dozens more enemy soldiers as the cross-border
fighting continued. On Tuesday, the ministry said Afghan forces had
killed 150 Pakistani soldiers over the previous five days, while 28
Afghan troops were killed in the same period.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Wednesday that
481 Afghan troops had been killed in the past six days. The
conflicting reports could not be reconciled.
Pakistan has warned that its military operations will continue until
Afghanistan takes verifiable steps to rein in Pakistani Taliban,
also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and other militants
operating from its territory.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of harboring the TTP, a
militant group responsible for a surge in attacks inside Pakistan
since 2021 when the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
Kabul denies the charge, insisting it does not allow its territory
to be used against other countries.
___
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Riaz
Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera
Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul, Afghanistan,
contributed to this report.
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