Row over university attack strains ceasefire, academic ties

Accusations by the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan against Pakistan of carrying out a deadly bombing of a university in its eastern province of Kunar that borders Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, accusations Pakistan has dismissed as propaganda are threatening a fragile ceasefire between the two countries.

According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, as reported by Afghan media, Pakistan’s attack on the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University on Monday 27 April in Asadabad, the provincial capital, resulted in damage to the Faculty of Education building.

Afghan media reports quoted local authorities stating that at least seven people were killed and 75 were injured across the province, including one professor and around 30 university students. The campus was shut down immediately after the attack, but classes were resumed the next day, as per reports.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat, in his statement on X on 27 April, termed the alleged missile strikes by Pakistan as “inexcusable war crimes against civilians and academic institutions”.

He posted: “In these attacks, civilian residences, including Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University, were deliberately targeted. We unequivocally condemn these actions in which civilian populations as well as educational and academic institutions were intentionally targeted, and we regard these actions as grave and inexcusable war crimes, a blatant act of brutality and a provocative action.”

Islamic values

Ariana News reported that Nida Mohammad Nadim, the acting Minister of Higher Education of Afghanistan, termed the alleged university attack a “cowardly and brutal act” that violates Islamic values and international principles.

According to Ariana News, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education said that Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University in Kunar province was struck by a rocket attack allegedly launched from Pakistan.

It quoted the ministry’s statement that the strike caused extensive damage to campus facilities and left dozens of students and lecturers injured. It reported the ministry's strong condemnation, describing the strike as “a direct attack on education, knowledge and the country's future, while urging international organisations not to remain silent”.

Swiftly after Afghanistan’s accusation, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a statement rejecting Afghanistan’s claim of an attack by Pakistan on the university and civilian residential areas.

On its official Factcheck X handle, the ministry stated: “Pakistan’s targeting is precise and intelligence based. No strike has been carried out on Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University. The claims are frivolous and fake.

It said: “The Afghan media claim is a blatant lie and an attempt to gain sympathy to cover up support by [the] Afghan Taliban [for] Fitna Al Khwarij,” the term Pakistan uses for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

In another statement, reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the vile propaganda around phantom strikes in Kunar by Afghan Taliban–sponsored media and officials, backed by Indian propagandists, was absurd.

The statement said: “Afghan Taliban regime, having nothing to offer its citizens in terms of service, welfare and governance, relies only on misinformation and hate.”

It further said: “Whenever and wherever Pakistan strikes Afghan-based terror infrastructure, it will be as previously done, declared, fully owned and backed by precise evidence targeting terror support networks.”

Border clashes

Relations between the Taliban-led Afghanistan and Pakistan plunged to a historic low in February this year when Pakistan conducted airstrikes inside Afghanistan at multiple locations, including the capital Kabul, under its Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (Righteous Fury).

Islamabad termed the strikes “precise attacks on terrorist hideouts”, referring to the Pakistani Taliban that, it says, launch cross-border attacks from Afghan territory. Kabul denied the charge, terming terrorist attacks in Pakistan an internal security issue.

Armed border clashes, described by officials on both sides as “near open war”, continued until late March when both sides declared a ceasefire. In April China intervened to de-escalate tensions between the two neighbours through talks held in Urumqi.

Border clashes between the armed forces of both countries have now resurfaced after the alleged university attack, putting the already fragile truce at breaking point.

The Qatar-based Aljazeera (English) TV broadcast interviews of some students of Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University from Asadabad, Kunar Province, who provided accounts of a suspected drone strike on their campus.

Video footage following the incident shows damage to the facilities and disrupted classrooms containing abandoned personal belongings, including shoes and backpacks. One student interviewed, Ibadullah, alleged that the explosion was caused by a Pakistani military drone.

One student, Khalid, stated in the video that an explosion occurred near an academic building around 2.30pm while approximately 50 students were attending a psychology class.

According to one student, Irfanullah, the blast caused attendees to take cover on the floor. Windows of the building were shattered and the broken glass resulted in injuries to several students.

During the incident, student Khalid said that a teacher temporarily kept students inside the classroom for their safety and they were instructed to exit the building one by one to prevent further injuries.

The alleged mortar strike on Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University threatens to dismantle years of educational cooperation and the recent fragile peace progress achieved through the Urumqi talks.

Academic cooperation

Dean of the Faculty of Crop Production Sciences at Peshawar’s University of Agriculture, Professor Hamayoon Khan, told University World News: “Pakistan, historically, has been a vital contributor to Afghan human capital, notably through the Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships Programme. This initiative has funded thousands of Afghan youth, including women, to pursue medical, engineering and computer science degrees in Pakistan.”

He said: “The ongoing conflict could ruin the long history of academic cooperation between the two nations. The first casualty of escalated armed conflict is the goodwill that this scholarship programme brought and these clashes could cause deep-seated mistrust, potentially halting future academic exchanges.”

Besides the physical armed conflict at the border, a fierce diplomatic war of words is further eroding the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan officials issued strong public statements condemning the alleged university attack as an “unforgivable war crime”. In contrast, Islamabad aggressively responded, denying the claims and dismissing them as a “blatant lie”.

The bilateral higher education cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan is currently structured around several formal government and institutional programmes.

The Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme is executed by Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The initiative allocates 4,500 scholarships for Afghan students across undergraduate, masters and PhD levels for the 2022 to 2031 period, with a 33% quota reserved for female applicants. Under this framework, a recent cohort of over 350 Afghan scholars arrived in July 2025 to commence studies in fields including medicine, engineering and agriculture.

Due to operational challenges within Afghanistan’s domestic education sector, this cross-border academic engagement also uses virtual learning frameworks. Distance education and online learning facilities are currently being provided to Afghan students through programmes administered by the Allama Iqbal Open University and the Virtual University of Pakistan.

At the institutional level, these academic ties are formalised through direct bilateral agreements. Memoranda of understanding designed to facilitate faculty exchanges and joint research were established between leading universities in both countries.

Pakistani institutions such as the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, the University of Lahore and the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) have signed formal partnerships with Afghan institutions, including Kabul University and Nangarhar University.

Khan said academic ties must survive in this conflict and higher education collaboration between Afghanistan and Pakistan must not be derailed in any way.