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.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the process of relocating eligible Afghans to the United States is being reviewed as previous vetting processes raised concerns.

During a US Senate hearing, Rubio said a review into the process is underway and that “frankly there have been some errors found in the previous vetting process that we’re concerned about.”

“To some extent, their transfer has been paused or slowed down because those previous vetting procedures need to be completed.”

He stated the process is still under review to ensure that only eligible individuals are admitted into the US.

Earlier, US officials said that with the start of Donald Trump’s administration, the travel plans of hundreds of Afghans had been canceled.

Recently, the Trump administration said over 10,000 Afghan refugees who have not yet been granted asylum and are under temporary protection need to leave the US.

Addressing the Senate, Rubio said: “There was some concerns early on about freezing or slowing down this program until we could determine whether we were properly vetting people to come towards the United States and that process is ongoing and I think we’ll have more concrete answers for you.

“We’re working to make progress on that,” he said.