On Wednesday, October 15, Khalid left his home to work as a taxi driver. At around 3:15 p.m., the 25-year-old was heading toward Airport Road. Moments later, as he approached Taimani 5th street, a powerful blast tore through the busy street.
His family only realized something was wrong around 5:30 p.m. “No one had heard from Khalid,” Khalid’s uncle says to Zan Times. “When I called his mother, she told me his phone was still on charge at home. He had gone out without it.”
The family began searching hospitals near the scene of the explosions, but no one matching Khalid’s description had been brought in. Finally, at the site of the explosion near a building known as Lolo Tower, a traffic officer recognized Khalid’s car. The officer told them he had found Khalid’s body “with his abdomen ripped open.” That is when the family learned that he was dead.
“Members of the Emirate had taken Khalid’s body to Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital,” his uncle says. “That’s where we found him. It was impossible to believe he was gone,” he explains, adding that Khalid’s mother broke down uncontrollably upon hearing the news.
Khalid was unmarried and a graduate in economics. His father, a former employee of the Interior Ministry, was killed in a bombing in 2014. Now, a second explosion has shattered what remains of their family. “No one from the Taliban government has come to offer condolences,” the uncle added.
The blast that killed Khalid was one of at least two deadly airstrikes that struck residential neighborhoods in Kabul, including areas in Taimani. Pakistani fighter jets carried out multiple strikes across Afghanistan that afternoon and evening, with the government claiming that they were targeting hideouts of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants.
But on the ground, it was civilians who paid the price. According to the Emergency Hospital in Kabul, the attacks killed at least five people and wounded 40 others, including women and children.
“I thought I had gone deaf,” says Marsal, a 21-year-old woman who witnessed the blast from her balcony. “A bright light flashed, then a deafening sound. When the smoke cleared, all we could see were torn bodies on the street.”
The Taliban authorities initially denied the attacks, insisting that “a fuel tanker had exploded” at one site However, Pakistani media reported that the strikes targeted TTP fighters inside Kabul. Eyewitnesses said Taliban forces quickly sealed off those areas, preventing journalists and residents from approaching the sites.
Another strike hit a residential building opposite the Abu Bakr Siddiq madrasa, also in Taimani, just as worshippers were gathered for the evening prayer. “The explosion was so strong that it threw the prayer rows into each other,” says Sameer, a 14-year-old student. “I was near the washroom when it happened. I was thrown on the ground and my head was bleeding, I thought the world had ended.”
Homes and vehicles were destroyed in a wide area of Taimani. Nasir, 29, who suffered a leg injury, said his house was left “like a ruin.” “When I came back from the hospital, Taliban fighters had blocked the street,” he says. “No one from the government even asked how we were. People lost everything, but no one cares.”
Similar scenes of destruction were reported in other parts of the city, as residents described glass shattered, doors blown apart, and walls collapsed.
The airstrikes didn’t only target Kabul. Spin Boldak, along the border in Afghanistan, was also a site of heavy fighting. The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported at least 17 civilians killed and 346 wounded. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later announced that 58 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in the border clashes.
After days of escalating violence, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to an immediate ceasefire after the attacks on Kabul, as well as talks mediated by Qatar and Turkiye in Doha. Taliban’s Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob led the Kabul delegation, while Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif represented Islamabad.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced early Sunday that the two countries had “agreed to the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability.” Doha said follow-up meetings would be held “to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation in a reliable and sustainable manner.”
In Islamabad, Asif said the ceasefire was conditional on the Taliban’s ability to prevent cross-border attacks. “Anything coming from Afghanistan will be a violation of this agreement,” he told reporters. “Everything hinges on this one clause.”
The agreement came just days after Pakistan announced it would close all 54 Afghan refugee camps within its borders — part of its ongoing campaign to expel what it calls “illegal foreigners.”
For Kabul residents like Khalid’s mother, the politics behind the attacks and counterattacks mean little. All she knows is that her son left for work and never came home.
Khadija Haidary is a Zan Times journalist and editor. Azad Barakzai and Hura Omar (pseudonyms) have contributed to this report.
