KABUL: A senior Pakistani diplomat met with the Afghan government on Monday to discuss the second cross-border escalation in days, as thousands took to the streets in Kabul to denounce their eastern neighbour.
Pakistani officials accused the Afghans for starting the recent series of clashes which has claimed the lives of two people, one Pakistani soldier and one Afghan border police.
“Our post was fired upon, injuring one person. The post has been there for a number of years,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said.
“They fired mortars and automatic weapons,” one Pakistan official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Our troops responded with retaliatory fire. The exchange of fire continues at intervals,” a second official said, also on condition of anonymity
Chaudhry said the leadership of both countries has agreed on the need to have an effective mechanism in place for cross-border management.
Kabul lodges formal protest
Exchanges of fire and protests have threatened to worsen strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad, despite renewed efforts last month by US Secretary of State John Kerry to get them to work more closely on peace efforts. The Afghan foreign ministry on Monday said it summoned the Pakistani charge d’affairs to protest the alleged “unprovoked attack by Pakistani forces”.
Pakistan would bear the responsibility for “any consequences” in case of further attacks on Afghanistan, it said in a statement. On the edge of the Afghan capital, more than 2,000 people, mostly villagers, demonstrated and chanted “Death to Pakistan!” while around 3,000 students held a similar rally in the eastern province of Khost that borders Pakistan.
Cross-border clashes flared earlier Monday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces for a second time in five days as Kabul and Islamabad engaged in a war of words over the porous frontier, officials said. Afghanistan and Pakistan are in dispute over a site where Pakistan has tried to construct a gate on what Afghans claim is their territory.
Clashes last Wednesday in the same spot killed an Afghan guard and wounded two Pakistanis. The border is unmarked in places and a key battleground in the fight against Taliban violence plaguing both countries. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both US allies in its battle against militants.
“Today the Pakistanis returned to the construction site and said they will rebuild the installations,” said Afghan interior ministry spokesperson, Sediq Sediqqi. “Our border police told them not to do so. The Pakistanis fired at them and our police returned fire. The fighting lasted for two hours before the Pakistanis requested a ceasefire,” the spokesperson added.
He told AFP the clashes had since stopped and the Pakistani border guards had left the site of the construction.
Kabul accuses Islamabad of playing a double game in supporting Taliban insurgent attacks on US and Afghan troops. Pakistan denies the allegations and is locked in its own battle against the Pakistani Taliban. On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the cross-border clashes could be an attempt by Islamabad to put pressure on Kabul to accept the “Durand Line”, the disputed border which Afghans do not accept.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry dismissed Karzai’s remarks and said “opening discussions on this issue” was a “distraction from the more pressing issues requiring the priority attention and cooperation of Pakistan and Afghanistan”. It said Pakistan’s post had come under attack and complained about “several threatening and provocative statements” from the Afghan leadership. Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan’s 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen by the West as having a central role in negotiating a political settlement with Taliban insurgents who shelter in Pakistan’s border districts.
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