Islamabad/Kabul – A day after intense cross-border clashes left multiple casualties on both sides, the Taliban regime claimed that Pakistan had “requested a ceasefire,” a statement Islamabad-based analysts and officials have dismissed as misleading and politically motivated.
According to senior security sources, it was Kabul, not Islamabad, that sought the truce after Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted a series of precision strikes on militant hideouts across Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Paktika, and Helmand provinces. The strikes reportedly destroyed several Taliban tanks, Humvees, and fortified posts, killing dozens of fighters, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) operatives sheltering along the border.
Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai reported that Taliban sources in Kabul confirmed “a house was hit by a Pakistan missile or jet bomb just before the ceasefire agreement was signed,” suggesting that the truce was arranged hastily after significant Taliban losses.
Security officials in Islamabad described Mujahid’s ceasefire announcement as “damage control,” noting that Pakistan acted strictly in self-defense after repeated cross-border attacks by Taliban-backed militants killed civilians and soldiers. “You don’t call for a ceasefire when you’re winning, you do it when your positions are burning,” said one defense analyst.
Reports from Spin Boldak and Chaman confirmed that Pakistan regained control of its forward posts after intense fighting, destroying eight Taliban tanks, several armored vehicles, and ammunition compounds. Approximately 70–80 Taliban fighters were killed, according to field estimates.
Observers noted the irony in Mujahid’s sudden “peace ambassador” tone. “This is the same regime that glorifies violence and shelters terrorists. Now they’re pretending to talk restraint,” said a former Pakistani diplomat. Critics compared Mujahid’s narrative to India’s wartime propaganda, a desperate attempt to turn defeat into a headline.
As the dust settles, one fact stands firm that the ceasefire was not a product of diplomacy but a direct consequence of Pakistan’s overwhelming military response. The Taliban’s claim of “graciously accepting” Pakistan’s request for peace has unraveled under the weight of battlefield evidence and verified intelligence reports.
The truce, hurriedly sought by Kabul, reflects not magnanimity but desperation to stem heavy losses and growing internal discontent. As an Islamabad-based regional observer aptly put, “Mujahid can spin words, but the roar of PAF jets over Kabul spoke louder than any ceasefire statement.”
Analysts note that the episode echoes the events of May 2025 on Pakistan’s eastern front, when India called for a ceasefire following heavy battlefield losses during a brief four-day conflict. The pattern, they say, is familiar; a rapid shift from confrontation to conciliation once military pressure mounts, repackaged later as a gesture of restraint.
