ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire following Qatari and Turkish-mediated negotiations in Doha, and after nearly a week of deadly clashes, the Qatari foreign ministry announced on Sunday.

Kabul and Islamabad “agreed to an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The two parties also agreed to hold follow-up meetings in the coming days to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation in a reliable and sustainable manner,” the ministry added. 

The two sides had been engaged in deadly border clashes for nearly a week, and a brief 48-hour ceasefire collapsed on Friday after Pakistani airstrikes killed at least 10 Afghans. 

The recent round of violence was instigated by explosions in Kabul after the Taliban’s foreign minister made an unprecedented visit to Pakistan’s arch-nemesis, India. 

Following the Doha talks, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif asserted that the two sides will hold a subsequent meeting on October 25 in Turkey’s Istanbul.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, stated on X that following the signing of the “bilateral agreement,” the countries have decided that “neither country will undertake any hostile actions against the other, nor will they support groups carrying out attacks against the Government of Pakistan.”

Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban government of harboring “terrorist” elements, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a charge that Kabul routinely denies. 

Afghanistan in late December 2024 launched similar reprisals for a Pakistani operation aiming to destroy a training center and kill insurgents in the city of Paktika. The Taliban government said that the December attack had killed 46 people, most of whom were women and children.