<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe Cricket on Saturday accepted the Pakistan Cricket Board\u2019s (PCB) invitation to participate in a T20I tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka, following the withdrawal of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).<\/p>\n
The ACB pulled out of the series after alleging that three of its cricketers were killed in a strike carried out by Islamabad.<\/p>\n
Pakistan had again targeted<\/a> terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan on Friday. Incidents were reported from the Angoor Adda region and across Afghanistan\u2019s Urgun and Barmal districts of Paktika province as strikes were conducted against hideouts of the outlawed Hafiz Gul Bahadur group.<\/p>\n The attacks came on the heels of an audacious gun-and-bomb attack targeting<\/a> a military installation in North Waziristan, and just hours after Islamabad and Kabul extended their two-day ceasefire.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cZimbabwe Cricket has accepted the Pakistan Cricket Board\u2019s invitation to participate in a T20I tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka,\u201d a statement from the PCB said.<\/p>\n The maiden tri-series on Pakistan soil has been scheduled to provide all three sides with preparation ahead of next year\u2019s ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup, the cricket board added.<\/p>\n The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday night issued a statement<\/a> on the deaths of three Afghan cricketers in an airstrike in Afghanistan\u2019s Paktika province, stating it was \u201cdeeply saddened and appalled\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe three young men had returned home after participating in a friendly cricket match when they were killed in an attack that also claimed the lives of several civilians,\u201d the governing body said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ICC strongly condemns this act of violence that has robbed families, communities, and the cricketing world of three bright talents whose only ambition was to play the sport they loved,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ICC stands in solidarity with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and echoes their grief.\u201d<\/p>\n In a post<\/a> on social media platform X late Friday night, the ACB said three players \u2014 identified as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon \u2014 and \u201cfive other countrymen\u201d from Urgun district were killed and seven others were injured in a strike.<\/p>\n It said the players had earlier travelled to Sharana to participate in a friendly cricket match.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ACB considers this a great loss for Afghanistan\u2019s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family,\u201d the cricketing board said. As a result, the ACB decided to withdraw from participating in the tri-nation series scheduled to be played in November.<\/p>\n Afghanistan\u2019s ace spinner Rashid Khan, in a post<\/a> on X, said he welcomed the ACB\u2019s decision to withdraw from the upcoming fixtures against Pakistan.<\/p>\n Pakistan was set to host<\/a> the series from November 17 to 29.<\/p>\n Earlier, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Spokesperson Amir Mir told Dawn.com<\/em> that the tri-series was still on and the third team would be finalised shortly.<\/p>\n Separately, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said earlier today that Pakistan had carried out precision strikes in Afghanistan against the outlawed Gul Bahadur group last night.<\/p>\n \u201cAll speculations and assertions being made regarding targeting of civilians are false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Cricket icon Shahid Afridi took to X and said that Afghanistan, in its acts of aggression, had forgotten Pakistan\u2019s hospitality and \u201cfavours\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPakistan has always stood by its Afghan brothers, considering the troubles of Afghans as its own trouble,\u201d the former all-rounder wrote. \u201cIt opened its borders for its brothers. It accommodated 4 million refugees on its land.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say that in recent days, Afghanistan, forgetting all these favours, committed open aggression on the borders, to which our forces gave a full response,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Afridi wrote that Afghanistan should think of Pakistan as a brotherly Islamic country and should not allow its land to be used to aid acts of terrorism.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist attacks, especially in KP and Balochistan, predominantly targeting the police, law enforcement agencies\u2019 personnel, and security forces. Attacks increased after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan broke<\/a> a ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022.<\/p>\n Islamabad has been raising concerns over the presence TTP terrorists in Afghanistan and has repeatedly urged<\/a> Kabul to take action to prevent these attacks. For its part, Kabul has batted aside accusations of support for militancy, alternating between vehement denials of Afghan soil being used to launch attacks across the border, assurances that have failed to materialise, and simply telling the Pakistani state to negotiate with the TTP.<\/p>\n Tensions have flared between the two countries over the last few days, with Kabul and Islamabad engaging in border skirmishes on October 11. According to the military, 23 Pakistani troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists killed at the border following an attack from the Afghan side.<\/p>\n Afghanistan claimed it carried out the attack as a \u201cretaliatory\u201d measure, accusing Islamabad of conducting<\/a> air strikes in its territory earlier in the week. For its part, Islamabad has not confirmed whether it was behind the air strikes but maintained that Kabul must \u201cstop harbouring the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan on its soil\u201d.<\/p>\n Subsequently, Afghan forces struck several Pak\u00adistani posts and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and artillery pounded Afghanistan\u2019s posts, targeting hostile positions in the Afghan provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Khost, Paktia, and Paktika.<\/p>\n On Tuesday night, fighting flared up again<\/a> on between Pakistani forces and the Afghan Taliban in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, a temporary ceasefire was then announced. The Foreign Office (FO) said the ceasefire was implemented at the Taliban\u2019s request and with mutual consent, and would last for 48 hours.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, however, made it clear<\/a> on Thursday that he expected Kabul to make the first move if it was serious about resolving the issue of cross-border terrorism through talks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe decided the temporary 48-hour ceasefire [and] the message has been sent that if they want to fulfil our justified conditions through talks, then we are ready,\u201d he said, adding that if the Taliban were serious, they would initiate steps to hold talks.<\/p>\n On Friday, with representatives from both sides expected to meet in Doha soon for talks mediated by the Qatari government, Pakistan again targeted terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan. It had come after an attack on a military installation in North Waziristan and after Islamabad and Kabul extended<\/a> the two-day ceasefire.<\/p>\n There was no statement from Pakistan\u2019s military, but terrorists linked to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group had claimed responsibility for the attack on Khaddi Fort in Mir Ali, where a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of a military camp before attempting to stage an incursion earlier in the day.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in a telling statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that the relationship with Kabul would no longer be like it was in the past.<\/p>\n<\/a>ICC \u2018appalled\u2019 by deaths of three Afghan cricketers<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Afghanistan pulls out of series<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Pak Afghan tensions<\/h2>\n