Erdogan Offers Ceasefire Mediation for Pakistan-Afghanistan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate a renewed ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan during a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday, as border clashes between the two neighbors stretched into their sixth day. The discussion, which also addressed escalating tensions in the Middle East following recent attacks on Iran, underscored Turkey's push for diplomatic solutions amid rising regional instability.

The call took place against the backdrop of intensified fighting along the 2,611-kilometer Afghan-Pakistan border, primarily in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and southwestern Balochistan province. The current conflict began on February 22, when Pakistan conducted airstrikes on suspected terrorist camps in Afghanistan's Nangarhar and Paktika provinces. Afghan forces retaliated the following Thursday, prompting Pakistan to launch Operation Ghazab lil-Haq on February 26, targeting militant hideouts across the border. Pakistani officials described the operation as intelligence-driven and aimed at dismantling infrastructure used by groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which Islamabad...