In a significant diplomatic development, Afghanistan and Pakistan have reached an agreement to halt hostilities, as announced by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday.

This decision comes after a prolonged period of conflict that has tragically resulted in the loss of dozens of lives and left hundreds injured.

Both nations have committed to creating frameworks aimed at fostering enduring peace and stability. They have also planned to engage in further discussions in the coming days to reinforce the ceasefire and ensure its longevity, according to the statement from Qatar.

The negotiations, which took place in Doha, involved delegations from both Afghanistan and Pakistan, seeking to resolve what has been the most severe crisis between the two countries in recent years.

Qatar and Turkey played pivotal roles in mediating these crucial talks, highlighting their ongoing efforts to promote peace in the region.

Both governments had sent their defence ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”

Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other.

Afghanistan denies harbouring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.

Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilise a region where groups including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida are trying to resurface.

A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.

Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.

The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.

The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.

But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers.

The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.

On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika.

They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticised the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”

Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.

The two countries share a 2611-kilometre border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognised it.

Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan.

It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbour and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.

Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”

“The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.