LAHORE: Pakistan’s air strikes on 10 sites inside Afghanistan on Thursday capped a week in which a quiet push by Türkiye and Qatar to steady relations between Islamabad and Kabul was overtaken by one of the deadliest attacks on a police facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent years, leaving international mediation between the two neighbours under its heaviest strain since last year’s ceasefire.
The sequence began on September 16, when Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın and Hamad bin Khamis Al-Kubaisi, deputy secretary-general of Qatar’s National Security Council, held talks in Kabul with the Taliban’s defence and interior ministers and intelligence chief, according to SOFREP, which cited photographs released by the Taliban administration. Kalın also travelled to Kandahar. Two days later, militants struck the Old Police Lines in Kohat.
Neither Ankara nor Doha has publicly disclosed what was discussed. Posts widely shared in Pakistan claim the visitors pressed Kabul to honour the Doha understanding and put its Istanbul commitments in writing, and that the delegation left without a result. Those claims have not been confirmed by either government.
The assault began during Friday prayers on September 18, when an explosives-laden vehicle was driven into the gate of the police lines and a second attacker blew himself up during the gunfight that followed, Daily Times reported. Among the dead was SP Traffic Akbar Shinwari. Elite Force commandos, CTD teams and security forces took around 21 hours to clear the compound, and police said eight attackers were killed.
Casualty figures have shifted as the week went on. Police initially counted 22 dead, and said on September 21 that the toll had risen to 25 after two injured victims died in hospital. International agencies reported at least 31 dead and more than 100 injured, with some outlets including the attackers in that total. Al Jazeera, citing AFP, reported that Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen, a group linked to commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, claimed the attack.
Pakistani authorities have said one attacker was identified as an Afghan national, according to the Wikipedia entry on the attack, which compiles official statements. The attack followed a convoy clash in Hangu that killed six personnel.
Pakistan struck targets in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, September 21. The Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died; the UN mission in Afghanistan confirmed civilian casualties and Kabul lodged a formal protest, the Associated Press reported.
On Wednesday, Pakistani officials said security forces brought down eight rudimentary drones before they reached Kohat and Torkham. Early on Thursday, Pakistan hit 10 locations in Kandahar, Paktia and Khost that it said were used to store and launch drones. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described the strikes as “deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any drones had been launched from Afghanistan, said four civilians were killed and warned of a response, France 24 reported. Pakistan has not released a casualty figure for Thursday’s strikes. Social media posts claiming about two dozen Taliban fighters were killed in them could not be matched to any official figure; the 28-militant toll Pakistan announced relates to Monday’s strikes. On Friday, Pakistani security sources said several Afghan Taliban fighters were killed in cross-border firing in the Gulistan area, Al Jazeera reported, though neither government confirmed it.
The current mediation track traces back to October 2025. After the worst border fighting in years, Qatar and Türkiye brokered a ceasefire in Doha on October 18–19, and talks in Istanbul from October 25 to 30 produced agreement on a monitoring and verification mechanism with penalties for violations, Dawn reported.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office later said that the Taliban delegation had tried to back away from commitments made in Doha, while Pakistan insisted on concrete, verifiable action against militants on Afghan soil. Kabul denies sheltering anti-Pakistan groups and calls the violence Pakistan’s internal problem. Wire agencies say this week’s escalation now threatens mediation involving China, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Posts circulating in Pakistan say Kabul is now taking complaints about Pakistan to the same mediators. Beyond its protest over Monday’s strikes and its vow to respond to Thursday’s, The Lahore Times found no confirmation of a formal Afghan approach to Doha or Ankara.
President Asif Ali Zardari (PPP) called for the complete elimination of foreign-backed terrorists, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (PML-N) condemned the attack and ordered rescue work accelerated. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi (PTI) visited those affected and paid tribute to responders. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz condemned the Kohat attack, while Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi alleged Afghanistan-based networks were behind recent attacks.
With Kabul promising a response and Pakistan saying it will keep targeting sites it links to attacks, the immediate question is whether the mediators can restore the Doha–Istanbul framework before the next exchange of fire. For families in Kohat still burying their dead, the diplomatic timeline offers little comfort.
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