Pakistan-Afghanistan Clash: Clash between Taliban and Pakistani Army, firing on the border; Torkham Border Seal.
Tension has increased between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Security sources in Pakistan said that there was firing on the main border between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday, after which the Afghan-Pakistan border has been closed. According to local residents, sounds of firing were heard on the Torkham border connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to local residents, sounds of firing were heard on the Torkham border connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan. He told that after hearing the sounds of firing, there was panic among the people present there. Torkham border has been closed after this incident.
A security official told news agency Reuters that there was firing between the Taliban and Pakistani security forces. However, there is no news of any casualty in this firing.
At the same time, the spokesperson of the government in eastern Nangahar province of Afghanistan and the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Foreign Office have not yet given any statement on this firing. Let us tell you that the border dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been going on for a long time.
Citizens of both the countries come and go through Torkham border only. However, despite this, due to many disputes between the two countries, this border had to be closed. Earlier in February this year also, Torkham border was closed. Due to this, thousands of trucks were stuck on both sides of the border. At present it is not known what caused the firing from both the sides.
Monday’s strikes came after seven Pakistani troops were killed in an attack by an armed group inside Pakistan’s territory on Saturday, for which the country’s President Asif Ali Zardari vowed retaliation.
“Pakistan has decided that whoever will enter our borders, homes or country and commit terror, we will respond to them strongly, regardless of who it is or from which country,” he said while attending the funeral prayers of the soldiers, who included a lieutenant colonel.
A Pakistani military statement said security forces also carried out an operation overnight Sunday in North Waziristan district, which borders Khost and Paktika, killing eight militants accused of being in involved in Saturday’s attack.
#Pakistan Air Force launched strikes into #Afghanistan early on Monday, allegedly targeting the hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Paktika and Khost provinces, multiple reports from across the border said
WATCH to know more pic.twitter.com/UDvsresDcl
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) March 18, 2024
The TTP issued an official statement denying that Monday’s strikes targeted the group, saying their members operate from within Pakistan.
Pakistan-Afghanistan Clash is an old rivalry since 2021
Border tensions between the two countries have risen since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani aircraft “bombed civilian homes” in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan at around 3:00 am (2230 GMT Sunday), adding that all of the dead were women and children.
Afghanistan’s defence ministry said its border forces retaliated in response to the airstrikes, targeting Pakistan’s military points along the disputed border with “heavy weapons”.
“The country’s defense and security forces are ready to respond to any aggressive actions and will defend their territorial integrity at all cost,” spokesman Enayatullah Khwarizmi said on social media platform X.
Cross-border skirmishes in the region were reported by both sides into Monday afternoon, the latest in a string of such incidents on the disputed frontier.
The Taliban government “strongly condemns these attacks and calls this reckless action a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty”, Mujahid said in his statement.
“Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will be out (of) Pakistan’s control.”