Top UN officials have expressed concern over the cross-border clashes between Taliban militants and Pakistani security forces, and called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve their differences while China and Russia called on both countries to cease firing. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is following the situation with concern, his spokesperson said Thursday. In a note to correspondents, Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general urges relevant parties to comply with their obligations under international law and to ensure the protection of civilians.

“Commending mediation efforts by several Member States in recent months, the Secretary-General urges the parties to continue to seek to resolve any differences through diplomacy,” Dujarric said. In Geneva, UN human rights chief Volker Turk on appealed for dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan. “This situation calls for urgent political dialogue, rather than escalating the use of force,” said the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Beyond the global body, the UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for the Supreme Leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and for the Chief Justice of the Taliban, Mr Abdul Hakim Haqqani. The warrant states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both men are guilty of “ordering, inducing or soliciting the crime against humanity of persecution…against girls, women and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women’”.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministers on Friday held an urgent telephone conversation to discuss escalating tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as cross-border hostilities intensified in multiple sectors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, on Friday morning. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the two leaders exchanged views on regional security and efforts to reduce tensions in the broader region. The diplomatic outreach came amid claims by Islamabad that its armed forces had carried out extensive retaliatory strikes following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban regime along several points of the frontier.

Russia has urgeed Pakistan and Afghanistan to halt cross-border attacks immediately and resolve their differences through diplomatic means, the RIA news agency reported on Friday, citing the foreign ministry. Iran offered to help "facilitate dialogue" to resolve conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan after Islamabad declared "open war" on the Taliban government and carried out air strikes on Kabul following border clashes. "The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to provide any assistance necessary to facilitate dialogue and to enhance understanding and cooperation between the two countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)