ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan does not seek further escalation of hostilities with Afghanistan but expects the South Asian country's Taliban rulers to address its security concerns by taking action against militants operating from Afghan soil, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi’s remarks signaled an easing of tensions between the two neighbors, who earlier this month exchanged fire along the border, leaving dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants dead.
The comments came a day after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to maintain a ceasefire following nearly weeklong negotiations facilitated by Turkey and Qatar in an effort to prevent a wider conflict in the region where al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and other groups are trying to resurface.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s military said it launched strikes on the hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan, killing dozens of people whom it described as insurgents. Afghanistan said that the people killed were civilians and struck Pakistani military posts in response, claiming it killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in the retaliatory fire. Pakistan’s military, however, acknowledged it lost 23 soldiers in the fighting.
It prompted Qatar to invite delegations from the two sides to Doha, where they agreed to a ceasefire on Oct. 19. It was followed by six days of talks in Istanbul, which went up and down until Thursday night when the two sides agreed to maintain the ceasefire.
Andrabi praised the role of Qatar and Turkey in facilitating the peace talks, saying the two sides will meet again in Istanbul on Nov. 6 to finalize mechanisms for implementing the ceasefire.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent months, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group was designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations a decade ago. It is separate from the Afghan Taliban but has been emboldened by the latter’s takeover of Kabul in 2021.
Despite the ceasefire, both countries have kept major crossings closed, leaving hundreds of trucks packed with goods and thousands of refugees stranded on each side.
Andrabi said all the border crossings with Afghanistan remain closed for trade for now because of security reasons but refugees were being facilitated to return home from at least the southwestern Chaman border crossing, while other border crossings were shut for security reasons.
In Kabul, Abidullah Uqab Farooqi, a spokesperson for the Border Police of the Ministry of Interior, however, said the key northwestern Torkham crossing would reopen Saturday, but only for refugees.
There was no announcement from Pakistan about the reopening of Torkham.
But the latest developments came a day after Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Ahmad Shakeeb, wrote on X that large numbers of Afghan refugees were stranded because of Pakistan’s closure of the crossings.
On Friday, Andrabi said the Afghan ambassador violated diplomatic norms by airing his grievances on social media instead of communicating through Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
Since 2023, Pakistan has launched a campaign against immigrants l iving illegally in the country. More than a million Afghans have been deported since then.
Associated Press writer Abdul Qahar contributed to this story from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, center right, and Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob shake hands after signing a ceasefire agreement in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, October 19, 2025.(Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)
Afghan refugees gather beside trucks loaded with their belongings as they wait their turn to leave for their homeland through a border crossing point which partially opens following Oct.19 ceasefire, on the outskirts of Chaman, a border town on the Pakistan Afghan border, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/H. Achakzai)
Afghan refugees sit beside trucks loaded with their belongings as they wait their turn to leave for their homeland through a border crossing point which partially opens following Oct.19 ceasefire on the outskirts of Chaman, a border town on the Pakistan Afghan border, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/H. Achakzai)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, Iran’s state-run media said Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receiving it.
Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel fights the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, its state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, an issue that Tehran would rather discuss later.
The White House had no immediate comment about Iran’s reply. President Donald Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC.
Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.
Meanwhile, the fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry called it a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region."
Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.
Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that's key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.
The U.S. in turn has blockaded Iranian ports and on Friday struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on one of the U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.
The American military said Sunday that it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four since the blockade began April 13.
Another sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
In an interview with state media posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said its forces were on “full readiness” to protect nuclear sites where uranium is stored.
“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an excerpt of an interview with CBS scheduled to air later Sunday said the war isn't over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.
The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was bombarded by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.
Pakistan oversaw face-to-face talks between the U.S. and Iran last month and continues to pursue mediation. In rare public comments, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said Islamabad remains committed to helping end the conflict. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone with his Qatari counterpart.
The UAE's Defense Ministry said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran.
In Kuwait, Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said hostile drones entered Kuwait’s airspace and forces responded “in accordance with established procedures.” The ministry did not say where the drones came from.
Qatar's Defense Ministry said a drone targeted a commercial ship coming from Abu Dhabi, setting a small fire that was extinguished. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack happened 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Doha. It gave no details about the ship’s owner or origin, and there was no claim of responsibility.
Several attacks against ships in the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was soon paused.
South Korea announced initial findings from a investigation that said two unidentified airborne objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored in the Strait of Hormuz last week, causing an explosion and fire. A foreign ministry spokesperson said officials have yet to determine who was responsible.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
Container ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, May 2, 2026.(Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
