Czech President Petr Pavel granted pardons on Wednesday to four members of the country’s special forces, who had been facing prosecution for alleged crimes related to the death of a detained Afghan soldier.

The four members of the 601st special operations forces group were to stand trial on charges of extortion, insubordination, violation of guard duty obligations and failure to provide aid, Reuters reported.

Czech media had reported that the accusations related to the death of 19-year-old Wahidullah Khan after he was detained over an attack on troops at the Shindand base in western Afghanistan in 2018.

One Czech soldier was killed in the attack and two others were injured.

“After carefully assessing all the circumstances of this case, the President of the Republic took into account in particular the exceptional nature of the war situation in which the incident under investigation occurred,” Pavel’s office said.

It added that the fact the soldiers were not primarily accused of violent crimes had also been taken into consideration.

The New York Times first reported the incident in 2018. It reported that Khan was beaten after being taken into custody by U.S. and Czech troops, was unconscious when he was returned to Afghan forces the same day and died shortly afterwards.

U.S. and Czech troops were being investigated over the incident, it reported at the time.

The Czech army operated in Afghanistan from 2002 until 2021.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has strongly condemned a deadly attack on a school bus in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, calling the violence against children and civilians “unjustifiable.”

In a statement shared on X, Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid expressed sympathy for the victims and rejected allegations that the attackers had links to Afghanistan.

“Pakistani authorities should not make baseless accusations against Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate does not permit anyone to use Afghan soil to launch attacks on other countries,” he stated, emphasizing that there is no evidence to support such allegations.

The attack on army bus school, which took place in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, claimed the lives of five people, including three children.

Pakistan’s military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif swiftly condemned the violence and accused “Indian terror proxies” of involvement, although they did not share any evidence linking the attack to New Delhi.

India rejected Pakistan’s accusations.

Pakistan and Afghanistan plan to upgrade their diplomatic ties, China said on Wednesday after hosting an informal meeting between Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

Muttaqi and Dar agreed in principle to send ambassadors to each other’s country as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after the meeting.

According to a statement issued by China’s foreign ministry, Wang said the two countries “clearly expressed” willingness to upgrade the level of their diplomatic relations.

“China welcomes this and is willing to continue providing assistance for the improvement of Afghanistan-Pakistan relations,” he said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Pakistan’s foreign office said it “welcomed positive momentum in bilateral ties, including enhanced diplomatic engagement, trade, and transit facilitation.”

Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister “emphasized the importance of political and economic relations with both countries and expressed hope for further progress in these areas in the future.”

Tensions appeared to ease after a rare meeting between Muttaqi and Dar in Kabul last month where the Islamic Emirate’s acting foreign minister expressed concern over the deportation of tens of thousands of Afghans from Pakistan, Reuters reported.

Wednesday’s meeting in Beijing signalled a further thaw, with all agreeing to a trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue in Kabul as soon as possible.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have embassies in each other’s capitals but they are led by charge d’affaires, not ambassadors.

China was the first country to accept an ambassador from the Islamic Emirate-run administration in Kabul though it does not formally recognise the government.

Wang and Muttaqi also met separately on Wednesday to discuss their bilateral relations.