Afghanistan, DR Congo, Nepal

Today's three stories you should know

Afghanistan

Pakistan has launched air strikes on Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and two other Afghan provinces, officials said, as tensions escalated after months of border clashes and skirmishes. Both sides reported heavy losses but gave widely differing figures. Pakistani government spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said on X that 133 fighters from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban were killed and more than 200 wounded, while a Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said they had killed 55 Pakistani soldiers in cross-border raids. Tensions have been high since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with Islamabad accusing the Afghan government of offering safe haven to its foes in the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, which is separate but allied to Afghanistan’s Taliban. Kabul denies that.

More from Reuters here.

DR Congo

The bodies of at least 171 people have been found in mass graves in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), local authorities said, in an area that the M23 armed group recently withdrew from. Fighting between government forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 is escalating despite a U.S.-mediated peace deal much heralded by President Donald Trump. Yves Ramadhani, vice president of a Congolese civil society group, said early indications were that the M23 had carried out the killings. The group’s spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. DRC’s eastern regions have been beset by decades of conflict with more than 100 groups battling for territory and resources.

More from AP here.

Nepal

Nepal’s former police chief issued an order allowing the use of live fire against student demonstrators during anti-government protests last year, a BBC investigation has found. Nineteen young people were killed in the capital Kathmandu on September 8. The BBC saw internal police documents from that day in which someone using the call sign "Peter 1" told officers to "deploy necessary force" after they repeatedly requested to use lethal force. Sources said “Peter 1” was Nepal's former police inspector general Chandra Kuber Khapung. The protests escalated the following day, fueled by anger over the killings. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was toppled after the parliamentary compound and other buildings were set ablaze. In total, 77 people were killed during the unrest.

More from BBC here.

NB: Proximities has published a deep dive on the world’s recent wave of Gen Z protests for paid subscribers. Consider going paid for weekly Q&As that put our world in context.