Pakistani, Afghan border forces clash as UN says 100,000 displaced by conflict
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
A resident looking at what remained of his house on March 5 after cross-border shelling in Khyber district, near the Pakistani frontier province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PHOTO: AFP
KABUL - Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire at dozens of points along their border on March 6 as the UN said their week-old conflict
The South Asian nations show no signs of rapprochement in their worst fighting in years, adding to the volatility in a region also contending with US and Israeli strikes on Iran
Combat has included Pakistani air strikes on Taliban government installations, such as the Bagram airbase north of the Afghan capital Kabul.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence said Taliban forces struck Pakistani military installations along the 2,600km border, destroying numerous posts and shooting down a drone.
It said seven Afghan civilians and three Taliban fighters were killed in overnight fighting.
Pakistani security sources said they carried out ground and air operations against military targets including Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban and where its core leadership resides, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.
Dozens gathered in Kabul on March 6 to protest against Pakistan’s attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, a witness said, while the Bakhter news agency said a large gathering in Laghman province demonstrated against Pakistan’s recent attacks.
People living in border towns have told Reuters that troops begin exchanging heavy shelling after sunset, placing homes in the firing line just as families sit down to break their fast in the holy month of Ramadan.
Several said relatives and neighbours have fled.
“The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains tense amid active conflict along the border,” the United Nations refugee agency said, adding that some 115,000 people in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Pakistan were thought to have fled their homes.
Several countries have offered to negotiate a truce, most recently Turkey, although the Iran war has diverted the attention of most Gulf states that had stepped forward.
‘Nothing to talk about’
Pakistani government spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said no negotiations were taking place to end the conflict.
“There is nothing to talk about. There will be no dialogue and no negotiations,” he told state-owned Pakistan TV. “Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end – that is Afghanistan’s problem. Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens.”
The conflict began last week with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan
Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of sovereignty and announced retaliatory operations.
Islamabad has said Kabul provides a safe haven to militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil.
The Taliban has denied aiding such groups and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.
On March 6, the Taliban’s Defence Ministry said it had also struck a military base in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province.
Reuters could not verify the strike, and Pakistan’s military has not reported any damage in the region.
Both sides have regularly said they inflicted heavy damage on the other and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence.
Reuters has not been able to verify the reports.
The UN mission in Afghanistan has said 56 civilians have been killed in the country and 128 wounded since fighting began.
The Taliban government has said 110 civilians have been killed.
Pakistan has rejected both sets of figures, saying it targets only militants and support infrastructure. REUTERS
