Pakistan, Afghanistan show no signs of stepping back as fighting enters fifth day
Written by: Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Asif Shahzad
KABUL/ISLAMABAD, March 2 (Reuters) – Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Monday that their armies were targeting each other’s cross-border positions as clashes entered a fifth day, increasing instability in a region shaken by U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran in retaliation.
But the intensity of the fighting appeared to be lower than when it began, but there was no sign that the allies-turned-enemies wanted to back down and make peace.
Direct clashes between the South Asian neighbors, who share a 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile) border, are the heaviest in recent years.
It all started when Taliban rulers in Afghanistan launched retaliatory attacks on Pakistani facilities in response to Pakistan’s targeting of militants in Afghanistan.
Dozens of people were killed on both sides as Pakistan used jets to launch air-to-surface missiles at Taliban military sites and even directly targeted the Afghan government for the first time over allegations it was harboring militants seeking to overthrow the Islamabad government.
BAGRAM AIR BASE WAS TARGETED
On Monday, the Taliban defense ministry said Afghan forces targeted and destroyed a Pakistani military armored tank on the border in Pktika province after firing indiscriminate artillery shells into Afghanistan.
Defense ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khowarazmi said Afghan forces have killed more than 100 enemy personnel and captured more than 25 Pakistani military posts so far.
In his statement to the people of Afghanistan, Khowarazmi said that “enemy planes sometimes pass through our airspace” and that Taliban fighters fire air defense weapons to repel enemy attacks.
“Don’t worry, they are your own sons. Be confident and trust your sons,” he said, referring to Taliban fighters.
Pakistani jets tried to bomb Bagram air base outside Kabul and were repelled by Russian-made ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns, Afghan police said late Sunday. It was stated that there was no loss of life or material loss.
Bagram air base, located north of Kabul, was the largest US military base in Afghanistan and was once the center of US and NATO military operations during the 20-year war.
NO PROGRESS IN PEACE MOVEMENTS
Pakistani security sources said airstrikes and ground strikes continued and Pakistani troops destroyed ammunition depots in Khost and Jalalabad, as well as a drone storage area in Jalalabad, among other targets.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaulla Tarar, in a post on channel X, said that Pakistani forces have killed 435 Afghan soldiers, destroyed 188 positions and captured 31 more positions so far.
He said Pakistan also destroyed 188 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns and targeted 51 points by air.
Since the conflict began, both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on the other; These figures were not verified by Reuters.
Last week, friendly countries such as Qatar announced that they were willing to mediate and end the conflict. The Afghan Taliban has also expressed willingness to negotiate, but there has been no movement, especially because the Gulf region is locked in its own conflict.
PAKISTAN SAYS THERE IS ONLY A MILITANISM PROBLEM
Afghan-Pakistan hostility centers around Pakistani claims that Afghanistan is harboring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants, who it claims are waging an insurgency inside Pakistan.
Afghanistan rejected the accusation, saying it did not allow Afghan territory to be used against other countries and that Pakistan’s security problems were an internal matter.
“Pakistan had only one request, and that is that Afghan soil should not be used against Pakistan,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told diplomats at a briefing in Islamabad on Monday, in comments broadcast by state broadcaster PTV. he said. “This is our only problem. As long as it is solved, we have no other problems with Afghanistan.”
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by YP Rajesh; Editing by Toby Chopra)
