China urges restraint as Taliban-Pakistan clashes continue

China called on Taliban and Pakistan to resolve escalating clashes through dialogue and avoid further military escalation, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement following a phone call between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The appeal came as fighting between Taliban and Pakistan along the border entered its 18th day, with both sides reporting casualties, cross-border strikes and competing claims about battlefield gains.

Muttaqi thanked China for what he described as Beijing’s efforts to mediate the clashes, according to the statement released Friday.

He said the Afghan people had long suffered from war and valued opportunities for peace and development, adding that Afghanistan aims to be “a source of regional peace rather than turbulence.”

Muttaqi also reiterated that Afghanistan’s territory would not be used to launch attacks against neighboring countries and said they prefer dialogue with their neighbors rather than armed confrontation.

Wang said Afghanistan and Pakistan are “inseparable brothers and neighbors who cannot move away from each other,” according to the ministry.

“Problems between the two countries can only be resolved through dialogue and consultation,” he said. “Force will only make the situation more complicated and intensify contradictions.”

China maintains an objective and impartial stance on the Taliban-Pakistan clashes, Wang said, adding that China’s special envoy for Afghanistan has been traveling between the two countries to facilitate mediation.

He urged both sides to remain calm and exercise restraint, hold face-to-face talks as soon as possible, reach a ceasefire and resolve differences through dialogue.

According to the statement, the two sides also exchanged views on the situation in Iran, with Wang saying China was willing to work with the international community to promote peace.

Border clashes

The call came amid intensified fighting along the disputed Durand Line border.

On Friday, the Taliban-run Defense Ministry said its forces seized a Pakistani military post in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar during recent clashes, claiming 14 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 11 wounded. The claims could not be independently verified.

The ministry also said a Pakistani military facility known as the “Hamza” center in Islamabad’s Faizabad area was targeted by drones, causing what it described as heavy casualties and damage.

Pakistan rejected those claims. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described the Taliban’s account as “propaganda” and said Pakistani security forces intercepted two drones launched by militants, causing only minor damage.

Tarar also said Pakistani airstrikes had targeted what he described as militant infrastructure inside Afghanistan. He claimed that since the start of the clashes, 663 Taliban members had been killed and 887 wounded, while dozens of Taliban border posts and military vehicles were destroyed. Those figures also could not be independently verified.

Taliban, meanwhile, said their forces had captured dozens of Pakistani military posts and inflicted heavy casualties on Pakistani troops.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari condemned what he called Taliban drone attacks and warned that Taliban had “crossed a red line,” adding that Pakistan would not tolerate attacks on its civilians.

Some residents in Afghanistan’s Paktika province said Pakistani airstrikes had caused significant harm to civilians, though Pakistani officials have denied targeting noncombatants.

The United Nations has called for an immediate end to the fighting. UN figures show that at least 73 civilians have been killed in the border clashes so far.