Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday (October 20, 2025) said the ceasefire arrangement with Afghanistan hinges on Taliban’s commitment to rein in terrorists attacking his country from across the border.

His statement comes a day after both sides agreed on a ceasefire following talks in Doha, which were facilitated by Qatar and Turkiye.

“Anything coming from Afghanistan will be [a] violation of this agreement,” Asif was quoted as saying Dawn. “Everything hinges on this one clause.”

He said that in the agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkiye and Qatar, “it was clearly spelled out that there would not be any incursions”.

“We have a ceasefire agreement as long as there is no violation of the agreement which is already in force,” he said.

Mr. Asif has said that the primary objective of the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan is to eliminate the menace of terrorism.

According to state-run Radio Pakistan, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, the minister said that terrorism has been affecting border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan for years.

He said that both countries have reached the conclusion that immediate elimination of terrorism is essential and the two countries will make serious efforts to curb terrorism, otherwise, regional peace could face serious threats.

Mr. Asif said another meeting will be held next week in Istanbul to finalize the details of the agreement.

He said Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob acknowledged that terrorism is the main reason behind the tensions in our relations, which will now be addressed.

He hoped that peace will now return, and relations will normalize between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As a result, Pakistan-Afghanistan trade and transit will also resume, and Afghanistan will be able to use Pakistani ports.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since 2023, with Islamabad repeatedly raising concerns over the use of Afghan soil by militants carrying out cross-border attacks.

The situation further deteriorated following repeated terrorist attacks by TTP, including one in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district recently, which claimed the lives of 11 military personnel, including a Lt Colonel and a Major.

Afghanistan have pulled out of a tri-nation series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka next month after three local cricketers were killed in an attack, the country’s cricket board said on Friday (October 17, 2025).

The ACB said that the players had travelled from Urgun to Sharana in the eastern Paktika province on the Pakistan border to take part in a friendly match.

It said that “after returning home to Urgun, they were targeted during a gathering” in what it described as “a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime”.

The ACB named the three players as “Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon”, and said that five other people were also killed in the attack.

The ACB did not give any more details on the attack.

It said that it “considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family”, while extending its “deepest condolences and solidarity to the bereaved families”.

The ACB said that it had decided to withdraw from next month’s tri-series “as a gesture of respect to the victims”.

“The massacre of innocent civilians and our domestic cricket players by these oppressors is a heinous, unforgivable crime,” wrote Afghan international cricketer Fazalhaq Farooqi on Facebook.

Another international player, Mohammad Nabi, added: “This incident is not only a tragedy for Paktika but for the entire Afghan cricket family and the nation as a whole.”

Afghanistan wants peaceful resolution of its conflict with Pakistan but if the efforts don’t succeed, it has other means, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Sunday (October 12, 2025).

Mr. Muttaqi’s comments at a media briefing at the Afghan Embassy came amid escalating tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan carried out air strikes in Kabul on Thursday (October 9, 2025), and it followed clashes between the two sides.

Mr. Muttaqi said the situation is under control now.

“We want a peaceful resolution of the situation, but if the peace efforts don’t succeed, we have other options,” the Afghan Acting Foreign Minister said.

“We have good relations with the people of Pakistan and the government but some elements in that country are trying to create problems,” Mr. Muttaqi said.