KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s government accused Pakistan’s military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen in the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighboring countries.
The fighting, which erupted in late February, has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades.
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 seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation.
Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that “mortars and other heavy weaponry” were used Sunday afternoon to strike rural areas and civilian homes on the outskirts of the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province.
In a post on X accompanied by photos of wounded children, Fitrat said that preliminary figures indicated that one person had been killed and 16 others were wounded, mostly women and children. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the accusations.
The fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan said that a Pakistani airstrike had hit a drug treatment hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office has said the total death toll is still under verification. Pakistan has disputed the claim and denied targeting civilians, saying that it struck an ammunition depot.
The fighting in February began when Afghanistan launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that it said had killed only civilians. Islamabad had said the strikes were targeting militants.
Last month, Pakistan declared that it was 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.
The two sides declared a temporary truce last week before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The truce expired earlier this week, and renewed fighting erupted on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying that at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan.
Tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been high for months. The most recent fighting has upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that had halted earlier clashes between the two sides that had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants. The two sides differ widely on the casualty figures.
Peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to reach a long-term solution.
A little girl and a woman watch as rescue workers and officials inspect the site of a late-Monday airstrike at a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Dawn Staley and South Carolina are mainstays in the Final Four while TCU is looking to reach March Madness ' biggest stage for the first time.
The two teams will play Monday night in the Sacramento 4 Regional Final with a trip to the women's national semifinals on the line. The winner will face either UConn or Notre Dame on Friday in Phoenix.
The Gamecocks have been to the Final Four in six of the past eight seasons and won three national championships during that stretch. Staley has been at the helm for all of them, including the undefeated 2023-24 season.
South Carolina has a big experience advantage over TCU, which advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season with basically a whole new roster led by Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez.
“I think they are very calculated and methodical and who they want to shoot the basketball, who they want to be play makers, who they want to be spacers,” Staley said of TCU.
Coach Mark Campbell has built his team the last two seasons through the transfer portal. He got six players in this past season, including Miles, who turned down going to the WNBA to finish off her college career with the Horned Frogs after transferring from Notre Dame.
“We’ve built our program literally all through the portal, for you guys that haven’t followed us,” Campbell said. “I think we’ve had 18 portal players, six each year. And our program’s come a long ways. There’s a lot of negative you hear about the portal. I think there’s a lot of positive too.”
While most of his team hasn’t been to the Elite Eight, Campbell insists he learned a lot from last season when the Horned Frogs lost to Texas. A lot of last year was a blur to Campbell.
“I’m much more prepared in leading our team and understanding and navigating the next 48 hours,” Campbell said after the Sweet 16 win over Virginia. “Then your margin for error, once you get to an Elite Eight, the teams that you’re going to face are just incredible. We have done a better job as a staff getting ahead of that scout and getting a game plan dialed in.”
South Carolina will need to figure out a way to slow Miles and Suarez down. The pair combined to either score or assist on all 79 of TCU’s points in the Virginia win.
“We need everybody. In order to beat South Carolina, we’ve got to play the best game we’ve played this season,” Campbell said. “We’re capable of doing it.”
Miles, a senior All-America guard, has had a stellar NCAA run. She’s played with a sense of urgency and renewed excitement, upping her play in the tournament.
Miles is averaging 19.3 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in three games.
“They play at a slower pace and control the tempo. Somehow we need to speed that up whether it’s through pressure or other way to doing things," Staley said. "We’re up for the challenge.”
South Carolina has raised its level of play in the NCAA Tournament, averaging nearly 100 points a game in the three victories. The Gamecocks are winning by an average of 45 points a game. They have been scoring in a variety of ways. In the victory over Oklahoma, they made 10 of 14 3-point attempts. Earlier games it was the post players who were the main source of offense.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
TCU forward Marta Suárez (7) looks to shoot over Virginia forward Caitlin Weimar (12) during the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
