Pakistan declared a ceasefire in the conflict with Afghanistan's Taliban on Wednesday.
The Taliban government also announced a temporary suspension of its military operations against Pakistan on Wednesday, spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said in a post on X/Twitter, soon after Islamabad similarly said it would also pause fighting.
Both parties stated that the ceasefire is intended to allow celebrations of the Eid al-Fitr festival over the coming days. The festival marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and is among the holiest times in the Islamic calendar.
Pakistani military: Site targeted in Kabul used for storing drones and military-grade ordnance
Separately, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday that the site in Kabul hit by a Pakistani airstrike this week was used for storing drones and military-grade ordnance, and to train suicide bombers.
The Taliban had said the strike targeted a rehab center and killed more than 400 people. However, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan put the death toll at 143, an official told Reuters on Wednesday.
Pakistan has rejected the Taliban claim that it targeted a drug rehab center, saying it "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure."
Independent experts said it was challenging to establish the truth about the target in the face of the competing claims without a third-party investigation.
Afghans search for loved ones at rehab center bombed by Pakistan, as dispute rages over target
Families and friends of people undergoing treatment at a rehab center in the Afghan capital searched for their loved ones on Wednesday, two days after it was bombed by Pakistan in the deadliest incident in the months-long conflict between the neighbors.
"We came here looking for our patient; he is missing," said Mazar, 50, who gave only one name. "We checked the lists, but his name was not in the list of the living. Maybe he is injured or has been killed," he said.
The Afghan interior ministry said funerals of some of those killed at the center would take place later on Wednesday.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have fiercely disputed the target of the air strike.
Afghan authorities said the attack had clearly targeted a well-known rehabilitation center, a former NATO military base named Camp Phoenix that had been converted into a civilian facility about a decade ago.
The strikes mark a new low point in the relationship between the Islamic neighbors at a time of heightened instability for the region due to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Pakistan has said it hit Camp Phoenix, a "military terrorist ammunition and equipment storage site." It added that secondary detonations visible after the strikes indicated the presence of large ammunition depots there.
The EU, UN agencies, and international aid groups have said civilian and medical facilities should not be targeted during a conflict and called for immediate de-escalation.
“There are enough elements to confirm that this was a civilian facility that was hit,” said Jacopo Caridi, country director for aid group Norwegian Refugee Council in Afghanistan, adding that military infrastructure may have been located nearby. "They might have missed the objective, but the result is that civilians were killed or injured.”
Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh and an Afghanistan expert, said it was plausible for civilian facilities to be located within or near former military sites in Kabul.
More strikes likely, US-based analyst says
Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute in Washington, said misidentification of targets and the proximity of civilians to military targets were constant risks in an air war waged by Pakistan in dense urban areas.
He added it was a difficult intelligence-gathering environment, and the Taliban was an opaque and reclusive government that ignored the norms of war.
The conflict between the allies-turned-foes began last year after Pakistan accused Afghanistan of sheltering and backing militants carrying out attacks across Pakistan, a charge denied by the Afghan Taliban government.
The conflict had ebbed amid efforts by friendly countries, including China, to mediate, but flared again with Pakistan directly targeting the Afghan Taliban last month, and not just Pakistani Taliban terrorists, Islamabad says, are in the country.
"Pakistan is exasperated with dialogue and has made the decision to inflict pain on the Afghan Taliban," Weinstein said. "But given the Taliban’s history, that’s unlikely to change their position, so bigger strikes are likely."