Pakistan Resumes Afghanistan Strikes After Eid

Pakistan resumed airstrikes on Afghanistan on March 26, less than 48 hours after the Eid al-Fitr ceasefire expired. The five-day truce — brokered by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey — ended with Pakistan's foreign ministry confirming that operations "would continue until the objectives are achieved." At least two civilians were killed in eastern Afghanistan within hours. The conflict has now displaced 115,000 people and killed at least 289 Afghan civilians, including 104 children, since fighting began in late February.

The ceasefire lasted five days. The war it paused has now run for a month.

On March 24, midnight came and the Eid truce expired exactly as scheduled. By March 25, shells were falling along the border in Khost, Kunar, and Zabul provinces. By March 26, Pakistan's foreign ministry confirmed the obvious: Operation Ghazab Lil Haq — the "open war" launched in late February — was back on.

Pakistan's spokesperson Tahir Andrabi left no room for interpretation. Operations continue "until the Afghan Taliban eliminates terrorist sanctuaries." Afghanistan's deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat called the airstrikes a return to "crimes against humanity." Both sides are using the language of finality.

The Numbers Nobody's Reporting

Here's what a month of war looks like in data most English-language readers never saw. Between February 26 and March 17, OCHA recorded 289 civilian casualties in Afghanistan — 76 killed, 213 injured. More than half were women and children. The New York Times reported 75 civilians killed and 115,000 displaced. Pakistani strikes have hit over 20 healthcare facilities.

Then came March 16: the Kabul hospital strike that killed over 400 people at the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital. It was the single deadliest attack of the war. Patients in rehabilitation. Pakistan says it hit "terrorist infrastructure." Afghanistan's government called it a crime against humanity.

That strike forced the ceasefire into existence. Without it, the pause almost certainly wouldn't have happened.

Three Mediators, Two Wars

The detail that makes this story unusual: the three nations that brokered the Pakistan-Afghanistan ceasefire — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey — are the same three entangled in the Iran war happening simultaneously.

Qatar is mediating US-Iran talks while its own territory sits within range of Iranian missiles. Saudi Arabia hosts US air bases that Iran has struck, wounding 15 American troops this month at Prince Sultan Air Base alone. Turkey is absorbing 2,000 Iranian refugees per day at its eastern border.

Everyone's mediating everywhere. Everyone's fighting everywhere. And now Pakistan — which resumed bombing Afghanistan — is hosting Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt starting Sunday for Iran war talks, positioning itself as a potential venue for US-Iran negotiations. Reuters reported this just yesterday.

Pakistan is simultaneously fighting a war and mediating someone else's. The same brokers who got Pakistan to stop bombing for five days can't extend that pause because they're consumed by a larger conflict.

The Coverage Split

Hindi-language media frames Pakistan as the clear villain — resuming strikes during what was meant to be a sacred religious truce. India Today and Republic Bharat provided wall-to-wall coverage, calling Pakistan's mediation in the Iran war "the real game" while it bombs its own neighbour.

Le Monde offered the deepest Western analysis weeks ago, calling this an "escalation with unpredictable consequences" between a nuclear-armed state and its northern neighbour. French media has consistently treated the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict as more dangerous than anglophone media allows.

English-language outlets? The Washington Post and Reuters covered the ceasefire collapse. But on CNN, BBC, and most major US outlets, Pakistan-Afghanistan barely registered. An active war between two nuclear-connected states, invisible in the language that dominates global news.

What Happens Next

The ceasefire showed that external pressure works — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey got both sides to stop for five days. China also brokered a temporary de-escalation in mid-March. But those mediators are now stretched across too many crises, and Pakistan has signalled it won't stop without what it considers total victory over TTP sanctuaries.

The 115,000 people displaced by this war don't have the luxury of waiting for the Iran war to end so their mediators can pay attention again.