[Contributing
to the tensions has been an intensifying offensive by the Afghan Taliban, whose
leadership shelters in Pakistan. Afghan officials from Mr. Ghani on down have
blamed Pakistan for the collapse of peace talks with the Taliban and for
continuing to provide sanctuaries for Taliban leaders and fighters inside
Pakistan.]
By Ismail Khan and Jawad Sukhanyar
 |
|
Afghan border police
officers rested on Monday after overnight clashes
with Pakistani forces
along the border. Credit Noorullah Shirzada/
Agence France-Presse —
Getty Images
|
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan — Pakistani and
Afghan forces exchanged heavy gunfire on Sunday and Monday in an unusually
serious escalation of tensions at the border, leaving 11 people wounded on the
Pakistani side and killing at least one Afghan police officer, according to the
police and military officials in both countries.
The fighting, which began on Sunday night and
resumed Monday, forced the closing of the Torkham border crossing, the busiest
between the two countries.
The escalation followed the closing of the
Torkham crossing last month after Afghan border security guards objected to the
construction of a gate on the Pakistani side. That objection also apparently
contributed to the conflict on Sunday, according to official accounts from both
sides.
The border remained closed for five days last
month but was reopened after a meeting between the Afghan ambassador to
Pakistan, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, and Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif.
An official statement by the Pakistan Army
late on Sunday accused the Afghan border guards of resorting to unprovoked fire
when work began on the installation of a gate on the Pakistani side.
“Torkham is the most frequented crossing
point at Pak-Afghan border, and recently even, most of the terrorists have been
found using this gate for entry,” the brief statement said. “In order to check
movement of terrorists through Torkham, Pakistan is constructing a gate on own
side of the border as a necessity to check unwanted and illegal movement.”
It said that one Pakistani soldier had been
wounded but that “Pakistani security forces responded to Afghan firing
effectively.”
A senior civil officer of the Khyber tribal
region of Pakistan, the site of the Torkham crossing, claimed that the Afghans
had fired mortars, rockets and artillery into Pakistani territory starting at
9:20 p.m.
“Shortly before beginning the construction
work, we duly informed the Afghan side, although we are under no obligation to
do so under international law,” the top civilian administrator in Khyber,
Khalid Mehmood, said by telephone from the area.
“The Afghan commander went back, switched off
the lights on the other side and, before we could figure out what had happened,
they started shelling and firing in our direction,” Mr. Mehmood said.
A mortar shell hit a house in a nearby
Pakistani village, wounding six civilians, the administrator said. Two more
civilians were hit by splinters and two paramilitary soldiers were also wounded
in the exchange of fire, he added.
After a lull of several hours on Monday,
fighting resumed in the late afternoon. Zarawar Zahid, the police chief of Nangarhar
Province, on the Afghan side of the crossing, posted a video on Facebook saying
that he was near the front line and ordering a mortar barrage against Pakistan.
He appears next to two mortars shouting to
his men, “Strike hard enough to blow up Nawaz Sharif’s home,” referring to the
prime minister of Pakistan who lives in Islamabad, the capital, 150 miles from
the border.
“We have to respond,” Mr. Mehmood said. “This
is an international border, and we are following our agreement that no
construction work would be done within 30 meters of either side of the border,”
he added, referring to a distance of about 100 feet.
Construction work at the border post was
suspended after the gun battles, but the administrator of the site said it
would resume.
Afghan officials blamed Pakistan for
initiating the fighting, saying Pakistanis had fired after the Afghan border
police tried to stop work on the gate. The border police officer’s body was
flown to Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Haroon Chakhansuri, the spokesman for
President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, said Pakistan was violating agreements
to work jointly on construction of border crossing facilities.
“They opened fire first, then the Afghan
security forces responded to them,” he said. “We emphasize that Afghan security
forces should always be ready to defend their people.”
Mr. Chakhansuri said diplomatic efforts were
underway to resolve the dispute. But officials on both sides of the border said
the situation remained tense.
Contributing to the tensions has been an
intensifying offensive by the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership shelters in
Pakistan. Afghan officials from Mr. Ghani on down have blamed Pakistan for the
collapse of peace talks with the Taliban and for continuing to provide
sanctuaries for Taliban leaders and fighters inside Pakistan.
Pakistan has responded by cracking down on
Afghan refugees in Pakistan and tightening controls along the normally porous
border, making it more difficult than usual for Afghans to travel to Pakistan
for education, medical care or trade.
Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, and Jawad
Sukhanyar from Kabul, Afghanistan. Reporting was contributed by Rod Nordland in
Kabul and Khalid Alokozay in Jalalabad, Pakistan.