Mounting tensions and border skirmishes between Pakistani forces and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan are risking wider war as both nations amass troops on the border.
At least five people were killed and three injured in renewed border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to local media reports on Saturday.
The Afghan Defence Ministry confirmed the deaths in a statement, claiming that its forces conducted attacks inside Pakistani territory targeting ‘miscreants’ hideouts.”
“Several points beyond the ‘assumptive lines’ (Afghanistan-Pakistan border) where the attacks in Afghanistan were organised and coordinated from the wicked elements’ hideaways and supporters were targeted in retaliation from the southern side of the country,” the ministry said .
However, the ministry did not explain who the “miscreants” were or provide additional information about the casualties and locations targeted within Pakistani territory.
According to Kabul-based local Tolo News, Pakistani forces fired a mortar shell in the Dand-e-Patan district of Paktia province, killing at least five people and injuring three.
Following clashes, approximately 1,000 people fled to the neighbouring Alisher district of Khost province.
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However, the Pakistani army has yet to confirm any clashes with Afghan forces.
Broader tensions
The latest cross-border violence is linked to Pakistan’s claimed response to frequent attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. A recent TTP assault on December 21 left at least 16 Pakistani soldiers dead.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that its forces carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, killing “terrorists.” Islamabad alleges the TTP had taken refuge across the border in Afghanistan.
The interim Taliban administration in Kabul on Tuesday night claimed that the Pakistani military carried out airstrikes, the second such cross-border action by Islamabad since March, in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province.
Sharing details on Wednesday, the IEA administration deputy spokesman Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat said the bombing by Pakistani jets killed 46 people, including women and children, and injured six others. He added houses were also destroyed.
Following the airstrikes, Kabul said the Taliban administration “will not leave this cowardly act unanswered.”
However, Islamabad rejected the reports that Pakistan targeted children and women.
The Afghan government pledged to strike back. On Saturday, IAE fighters said they launched attacks on various positions near the contentious Durand Line, the border separating the two nations.
The Durand Line, a colonial-era boundary drawn by the British colonialists, remains a point of contention between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan governments have historically refused to recognize it as an official border. Pakistan’s unilateral actions in building fences and conducting operations along this line further have caused disagreements between the two nations for decades.
Pakistani premier’s response
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday called for improved relations with Afghanistan and urged Kabul to take action against “terrorists” living on their soil.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting, Premier Sharif said the Afghan government should take practical actions to eliminate terrorist hideouts on its soil.
“We have conveyed to the Afghan government that we desire good ties with them but TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) should be stopped from killing our innocent people. “This is a red line,” Sharif said in his video statement aired by state-run Pakistan Television.
The IEA have denied all claims of terror attacks launched from Afghan soil and stress Pakistan’s violations of its sovereignty.
