Pakistan and Afghanistan have held peace talks as a tenuous ceasefire holds following cross-border clashes last month that left dozens of people dead and hundreds wounded.

The death toll from an earthquake in northern Afghanistan is climbing, and hundreds of families have lost their homes as the harsh winter arrives.

Senior officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan are in talks in Turkey in an effort aimed at ensuring peace along their shared border, state-run media in Pakistan said

Pakistani security forces have killed 20 Pakistani Taliban insurgents in raids on hideouts in the northwest region bordering Afghanistan.

Peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan broke down, although a ceasefire continues between the South Asian neighbours, a Taliban spokesperson said on Saturday.

Women not covered from head to toe are being prevented from entering public health facilities in western Afghanistan. The move came after the Taliban imposed new dress restrictions in the city of Herat.

Afghan officials say a powerful, 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook northern Afghanistan overnight killed at least 20 people

Pakistan said talks with Afghan officials ended without an agreement after the Taliban refused to provide firm assurances to curb cross-border militant attacks, a setback that could jeopardize the ceasefire reached between the two countries last month.

Afghan and Pakistani troops briefly exchanged fire along their shared border on Thursday, both nations said, on the same day talks to find a lasting peace restarted in Istanbul. Each nation blamed the other for starting the exchange of gunfire near Spin Boldak,

Photojournalist Lorenzo Tugnoli was in Afghanistan between 2019-2023, a pivotal time of transition and upheaval.

Turkey's foreign and defence ministers and intelligence chief plan to travel to Pakistan this week to discuss its stop-start talks with Afghanistan over a ceasefire in place in South Asia, President Tayyip Erdogan said.