Afghanistan Attacks Pakistani Border Posts
Peshawar: Afghan security forces attacked Pakistani border posts late Saturday in response to what the Taliban government called repeated violations of its territory and airspace, underscoring deepening security tensions between the neighbours.
Earlier in the week, Afghan officials accused Pakistan of bombing the capital, Kabul, and a market in the east of the country. Pakistan did not claim responsibility for the attack.
Early Sunday morning, the Taliban government’s Ministry of Defense said its forces were conducting “retaliatory and successful operations” along the border.
“If the opposition side violates Afghanistan’s territorial integrity once again, our armed forces are fully ready to defend the country’s borders and will respond strongly,” the ministry said.
Pakistan accuses Afghan authorities of harboring members of the banned group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Islamabad says the group has carried out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, but Afghanistan denies the charge, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
Pakistani Interior Minister Muhsin Naqvi condemned Afghanistan for the shooting on Saturday night and warned that “India will be given a befitting response”, referring to the crisis earlier this year when the two nuclear-armed rivals came close to war.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concerns about the escalation and tensions in the border region, as well as its possible repercussions on the security and stability of the region. He called on both sides to prioritize “dialogue, diplomacy and moderation.”
A senior Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Afghan forces opened fire on several northwestern border areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Chitral, Bajaur, Mohmand, Angoor Adda and Kurram districts.
The official also said troops responded with heavy weapons near Tirah in the Khyber region and along the border in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
A second Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said at least one person was killed and another injured when an Afghan mortar shell was fired into the Tiri village of Kurram district.
The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622 mi) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.
