Many killed in violent clashes between Afghan Taliban and Pak forces

At least four people were killed and eight injured on the Chaman border–the Pakistani side of the Pakistan-Afghan border after clashes broke out between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani border forces.

Pakistani newspaper The Nation reported on Sunday evening that the Afghan Taliban attacked Pakistan’s residential area at the Chaman border with heavy weapons. It said that an emergency has been imposed at the Chaman hospital.

The Afghan-Pakistan border is called the Durand Line, where Spin Boldak is on the Afghan side while Chaman is on the Pakistani side.

Reporting the clashes, Afghan news agency Tolo News said that one person was killed in Afghanistan and ten people were wounded. It cited its sources in Pakistan that five civilians were killed in Pakistan while 20 were injured.

Tolo News quoted a spokesman for Kandahar governors Haji Zaid as saying that one member of the Islamic Emirate was killed and 10 others were wounded in the clashes.

It quoted the commander of Spin Boldak Security, Mawlawi Muhammad Hashim, who said that the clash took place on Sunday afternoon.

The cross-border violence, which has flared up once again within weeks, shows rising tensions between the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and the Pakistani government. The two countries had closed their border in November after violence erupted, leading to a complete halt to trade and commerce.

The volatile border region had become a hot spot in April this year as well. Pakistan had targeted the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), also known as Pakistan Taliban, in air attacks inside Afghanistan in April. Islamabad also mounted pressure on Kabul to rein in the TTP which wants to establish an Afghan-like Islamic rule in Pakistan and has carried out attacks against the Pakistani establishment.

Ironically, relations between the neighbours have been sliding after the Afghan Taliban took over power in Kabul in August 2021.

Other major incidents that have lately contributed to a decline in relations include an attack on senior Pakistani envoy Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani who was attacked in the compound of his own mission in Kabul last week. Pakistan summoned the Afghan envoy in Islamabad and conveyed concern over the attack on Nizamani – the country’s Head of Mission in Kabul.

The killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in August, in a drone strike by the CIA in Kabul was widely believed to have been based on information provided by Pakistan. His assassination was announced by none other than US President Joe Biden.

The current spate of violence on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border also proves that the recent visit by Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Kabul to meet with her Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi has not yielded results.

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