• PAF takes out ammo dump in Kabul, drone workshop in Nangarhar
• FO calls Beijing ‘trusted partner’, rebuffs reports it has declined push for talks with Afghan Taliban
• Pakistan joins unanimous UN Security Council vote on UNAMA mandate
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan targeted the Afghan Taliban’s military installations on Monday night after Beijing reiterated its offer to continue efforts to ease ongoing tensions between the two neighbours.
Security sources said that during the strikes on Monday night – carried out as part of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq – Pakistani forces destroyed technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage at two locations in Kabul.
In the Afghan province of Nangarhar, sources said, Taliban military installations were targeted at four spots. Logistics, ammunition and technical infrastructure adjacent to these installations were also destroyed, sources said.
A drone assembly workshop, the “headquarters from where drones were sent” and weapon stocks were also destroyed in Nangarhar and Kabul, they said, claiming that drones were prepared here using parts made in India and Israel.
In updates shared around midnight, sources said the Pakistan Air Force was continuing operations in Kabul and Nangarhar.
Six targets had been successfully bombed in Kabul and Nangarhar, they said, adding that there were also reports of several terrorists having been killed.
Earlier, armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram and Bajaur sectors targeted and destroyed important Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) positions, security sources said.
“During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape,” a security source said.
Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses to refer to the banned TTP.
Chinese mediation
“China has consistently mediated the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan through its own channels,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing on Monday.
“The most urgent task is to avoid the expansion of the war and return the two countries to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” he added.
“China is willing to continue to make efforts to achieve reconciliation and ease relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said, adding that Beijing has been mediating between both sides in recent days.
Beijing’s foreign ministry also said on Monday it had sent its special envoy for Afghan affairs to both countries to mediate the conflict.
The foreign ministry also said on Monday that special envoy Yue Xiaoyong had visited the two countries between March 7 and 14.
In Afghanistan, Yue met Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as well as the minister of commerce and industry.
Yue also held meetings with high-level officials in Pakistan, including Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch.
“He urged both sides to maintain calm and restraint, to implement an immediate ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, and to resolve their contradictions and differences through dialogue,” the ministry’s statement said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi also held a call with Muttaqi on Friday, during which he promised to continue “making active efforts” to reconcile Afghanistan and Pakistan and ease tensions.
“The use of force will only complicate the situation... and threaten regional peace and stability,” Wang told Muttaqi, according to a readout released late on Friday.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Monday night, the Foreign Office denied reports that Pakistan had declined China’s push for talks with the Afghan Taliban.
The statement from the FO spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, came in response to queries about media reports that claimed Pakistan had declined China’s offer.
“Pakistan and China remain trusted partners and close friends, and both maintain regular and close communication on all issues of mutual concern and shared interest. Therefore, any unnecessary speculation or fabrication of facts in this regard is unwarranted,” he said.
UNAMA vote
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for three months, with all 15 members — including Pakistan — voting in favour.
Explaining its vote, Islamabad said it supported the extension because UNAMA plays a vital role in promoting “peace, security and stability in Afghanistan,” while warning that the country faces an “exponential rise in the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.”
The mandate will now run from March 16 to June 17, marking a departure from UNAMA’s customary one-year renewal amid differences among Council members over the duration of the extension.
The resolution, adopted unanimously, expresses serious concern over terrorist groups in Afghanistan which “continue to constitute a threat to international peace and security” and calls on the Taliban “to take active, immediate, demonstrable and concrete measures” to combat terrorism “in all its forms and manifestations, wherever and by whomever committed.”
It also outlines the Council’s expectation to strengthen “the safe and secure management of weapons and ammunition to prevent their diversion to terrorist groups.”
Diplomats said the three-month rollover emerged as a compromise after China, the penholder on Afghanistan, proposed a one-year extension while the United States supported a shorter renewal.
The resolution also asks UN Secretary-General António Guterres to appoint a new Special Representative to advance political engagement on Afghanistan.
With input from Reuters. Anwar Iqbal in Washington also contributed to this report.
Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2026