Pakistan and Afghanistan announce temporary pause in fighting, 2 days after deadly Kabul strike

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday declared a temporary pause in escalating fighting, two days after Kabul blamed Islamabad for a deadly airstrike in the Afghan capital that it said killed hundreds of people at a drug rehabilitation hospital.

Both said they were suspending fighting before Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The three countries have been trying to mediate a cessation of hostilities since Afghanistan and Pakistan renewed cross-border fighting in February, and had also been involved in helping broker a ceasefire between the two in October.

The announcements came shortly after Afghan authorities held a mass funeral in Kabul for some of the victims killed in Monday's strike.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the suspension of strikes on Afghanistan would take effect at midnight Wednesday and remain in place until midnight Monday.

“Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms,” Tarar said in a statement. However, he said that “in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan,” the operations will immediately resume with renewed intensity.

Afghanistan's government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, didn't specify a time frame for the pause on the Afghan side. But he said that his country “will respond courageously to any aggression in the event of a threat.”

Pakistan has rejected Afghanistan’s accusation that it targeted the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, insisting its strikes in Kabul and eastern Afghanistan Monday had been against military facilities. It has dismissed Afghan claims of hundreds of people killed as propaganda.

Monday's attack in Kabul was the deadliest in a conflict that has been escalating between the two neighbors since late February. Afghan officials have put the death toll at 408 people, with 265 wounded. The toll couldn't be independently verified.

The fighting has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the capital, despite international calls for a ceasefire.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

Bulldozers dug pits in a Kabul cemetery before Wednesday's mass funeral, which Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said was for more than 50 people whose remains couldn't be identified.

Light rain fell as ambulances lined up outside the cemetery and began unloading dozens of plain wooden caskets. Some contained the remains of more than one person, Zaman said.

The 2,000-bed Omid hospital was hit at around 9 p.m. on Monday. It had been renamed and expanded in size roughly a year ago from a previously existing treatment facility as part of the Taliban government’s efforts to stamp out a significant drug addiction problem in the country.

Afghanistan’s vast poppy fields have been the source of much of the world’s heroin, which in combination with decades of conflict and widespread poverty has fueled drug addiction that the country’s government has vowed to combat.

The site, near Kabul’s international airport, is adjacent to a former NATO military base, Camp Phoenix, where U.S. forces used to train the Afghan National Army. It wasn’t immediately clear what was now housed at the site.

The strike caused an intense fire at the hospital, with footage from local television showing rescue crews combing through the wreckage with flashlights late into the night as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze.

In an interview with The Associated Press in Islamabad earlier Wednesday before he announced the pause in fighting, Tarar said Pakistan had "only targeted terrorist infrastructure.”

“We have just gone after the Afghan Taliban regime, their military setups, their terrorist infrastructure, and all the setups which are supporting or promoting terrorists,” Tarar said.

He told the AP that Pakistan's strikes “have been very precise and these strikes were carried out in an ammunition depot in Kabul. In the aftermath of which, we saw fumes and flames in the atmosphere in Kabul."

He said the subsequent loss of life, which he did not quantify, occurred “because there was ammunition, there were technical equipment, there were arms there in that depot.”

Tarar said Pakistan has given a clear choice to Afghanistan’s government: “Either you are with Pakistan or you are with the terrorists. So, they will have to make a choice, and they will have to make the choice very soon,” he said.

Bodies were still being pulled from the smoldering remains of the hospital on Tuesday morning.

Mujahid, the Afghan government spokesman, condemned the strike, accusing Pakistan of “targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors.” He said those killed were “innocent civilians and addicts.”

The fighting, the most severe between the two neighbors, began after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes about three weeks ago. The clashes disrupted a ceasefire brokered by Qatar in October, after earlier fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.

Pakistan declared last month that it’s in “open war” with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.

Munir Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Elena Becatoros contributed to this report from Athens, Greece.

Coffins containing the remains of victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital are laid out before burial in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Coffins containing the remains of victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital are laid out before burial in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Taliban security personnel guard as people carry the remains of victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital, ahead of the burials Wednesday, March 18, 2026, Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Islamabad, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Bulldozers dig graves for victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Taliban security personnel stand by as bulldozers dig graves for victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Bulldozers dig graves for victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Bulldozers dig graves for victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Bulldozers dig graves for victims of a Monday airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump is paying his respects on Wednesday at a Delaware military base as the remains of six U.S. service members killed in the crash of a refueling aircraft are returned to their families.

It will be the second time since launching the war with Iran on Feb. 28 that the Republican president will attend the solemn military ritual known as a dignified transfer, which he once described as the “toughest thing” he has had to do as commander in chief.

Upon landing in Dover, Trump was greeted on the tarmac by Col. Jamil Musa, Commander, 436th Airlift Wing, Dover Air Force Base, and Col Martha “Jeannie” Sasnett Commander, Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, Dover Air Force Base and headed to the ceremony — which was closed to the press.

All six crew members of a KC-135 Air Force refueling aircraft were killed last week in a plane crash over friendly territory in western Iraq while supporting operations against Iran. They were from Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Washington state.

“Every person on that aircraft carried a weight most Americans will never see, and they carried it with professionalism, courage, and a level of quiet excellence that deserves to be recognized,” retired Lt. Col Ernesto Nisperos, a friend of one of those killed, said in a text message Wednesday.

The crash brought the U.S. death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 service members. About 200 U.S. service members have been injured, including 10 severely, the Pentagon has said.

Trump last traveled to Dover Air Force Base on March 7 for the dignified transfer of six U.S. service members who were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait. He saluted as flag-draped transfer cases containing the remains of the fallen service members were carried from military aircraft to vehicles waiting to take them to the base's mortuary facility to prepare them for their final resting place.

“It's the bad part of war,” he told reporters afterward. Asked then if he worried about having to make multiple trips to the base for additional dignified transfers as the war continued, he said, “I'm sure. I hate to do it, but it's a part of war, isn't it?”

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said that the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace” over Iraq but that the loss of the aircraft during a combat mission was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.” The circumstances were under investigation. The other plane landed safely.

The crash killed three people assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida: Maj. John A. “Alex” Klinner, 33, who served in Birmingham, Alabama; Capt. Ariana Linse Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky.

Klinner, who left behind a wife, a 2-year-old son and 7-month-old twins, was known for his steady command and goofy nature, as well as a willingness to help others. Pruitt’s husband described her as a “radiant” woman who lit up the room. Savino was a friend, mentee and “source of positive energy” who was proud of her Puerto Rican heritage and inspired young Latinas, said Nisperos, who is serving as spokesman for her family.

“She had had this warmth that made you feel seen, a strength that showed up in everything she touched, and a spark — that spice — that made her unforgettable,” Nisperos said. “If you knew her, even for a moment, you knew you were in the presence of someone who was going to change the world.”

The three others were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio: Capt. Seth Koval, 38, a resident of Stoutsville, Ohio, who was from Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis Angst, 30, who lived in Columbus; and Master Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, of Columbus.

Koval grew up dreaming of becoming a pilot, according to his wife, who described him as a loving, generous “fixer of all things.” Angst’s family said his life was defined by service, generosity and “a genuine love for people.” Simmons loved confiding in his 85-year-old grandmother and working out with her, Sen. Jon Husted said Tuesday, when he and Sen. Bernie Moreno honored the Ohio airmen on the Senate floor.

“To the mom and dad of these three young soldiers, I can’t even process what you’re going through. I can’t even imagine the emotions that you’re feeling,” Moreno said. “Just know that America is grateful beyond words for the sacrifice that your heroic young sons made.”

Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he walks to depart on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

This image provided by the Ohio National Guard shows Tech Sgt. Tyler Simmons. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

This image provided by the Ohio National Guard shows Capt. Seth R. Koval. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

This image provided by the Ohio National Guard shows Capt. Curtis J. Angst. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling tanker aircraft takes off from the Kadena Air Base airfield in Kadena town, west of Okinawa, southern Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump salutes as an Army carry team moves a flag-draped transfer case with the remains of Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, who was killed in a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait after the U.S. and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, during a casualty return, March 7, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)