BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentina is fronting a South American bid to host the men's Rugby World Cup in 2035.
The Argentine Rugby Union said it is moving forward with an official proposal to stage the tournament in the continent for the first time, with the unions of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay also involved in the bid.
A working session will be held with World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin, the Argentine union said late Tuesday, “to continue analyzing the feasibility of Argentina as a host.”
The bid “represents a federal objective and a legacy project that transcends our borders,” said Gabriel Travaglini, president of the Argentine union.
“We want a World Cup that reflects the passion and development that rugby has achieved in every corner of our territory.”
The 2035 event will be the 13th edition of the men's World Cup. The tournament will be staged in Australia next year — when Argentina, Chile and Uruguay will be South America’s representatives — and in the United States in 2031.
Argentina is South America's top rugby nation, reaching the World Cup semifinals three times — in 2007, 2015, and 2023.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Argentina's Luciano Gonzalez, right, blocks France's Josselin Bouhier (28) during a Vancouver Sevens rugby game, in Vancouver, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan and Pakistan announced Wednesday a temporary pause in fighting ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Both countries said Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar requested the pause in hostilities.
The announcement came two days after Afghan officials said an airstrike by Pakistan hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul and killed hundreds of people. Authorities in Kabul held a mass funeral for some of the victims of the strikes.
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 casualties as propaganda.
Islamabad was the first to declare the provisional halt of strikes. Afghan government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid made a similar announcement later Wednesday.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the pause in strikes 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,” he said. However, he added, “in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan,” the operations will immediately resume with renewed intensity.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Monday's attack in Kabul was the deadliest in an escalating conflict between the two neighbors, now in its third week. Afghan officials have put the death toll at 408 people, with 265 wounded. The toll could not be independently verified.
The conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the capital, since it began in late February, 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, who 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 ahead of Wednesday's mass funeral, which Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said was for more than 50 people whose remains could not 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, and that, in combination with decades of conflict and widespread poverty, has fueled drug addiction that the country’s current rulers have 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 hospitals, with footage from local television showing rescue crews combing through the wreckage with flashlights late into Monday night as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Islamabad earlier Wednesday, 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 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.”
Bodies were still being pulled from the smoldering remains of the hospital on Tuesday morning.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid 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 in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes. The clashes disrupted a ceasefire brokered by Qatar in October, after earlier fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.
Pakistan has declared it’s in “open war” with Afghanistan last month. 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.
Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Elena Becatoros contributed from Athens, Greece
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)
