ISLAMABAD – In a bid to ease the most severe conflict between them in recent years, Afghan and Pakistani delegations are headed to Doha, Qatar. This diplomatic effort comes in the wake of over a week of intense clashes that have resulted in numerous fatalities and left hundreds injured on both sides.

The Afghan delegation, as announced on Saturday, comprises the defense minister and the head of the national intelligence agency. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s national broadcaster, PTV, indicated that a Pakistani delegation was also preparing to depart for Doha on the same day, though specific details were not disclosed.

The core of the conflict lies in mutual accusations of aggression. Pakistan claims that Afghanistan provides sanctuary to militants responsible for attacks along their border, a claim staunchly denied by the Taliban government. This ongoing tension has prompted concern from regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are advocating for peace to prevent further destabilization in an already volatile area, where extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida are seeking to regain influence.

Efforts to halt the violence included a 48-hour ceasefire, which unfortunately ended on Friday evening. Tensions quickly reignited as Pakistan launched cross-border strikes shortly after the truce lapsed.

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

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, condemned 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 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.

Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor 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.

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Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.