Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Clashes Continue
AFGHANISTAN – On Wednesday, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border clashes were reported along the border in the Spin Boldak area of Afghanistan in Kandahar province, which borders southwestern Balochistan province in Pakistan.
The Pakistani army in an official statement claimed that the Afghan Taliban launched a pre-dawn attack at four locations in Balochistan.
The statement claimed that eight posts, including six tanks, “were destroyed” while “25-30 Afghan Taliban and Fitna Al Khwarij (Tehreek-e-Taliban) fighters were suspected to have been killed.”
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman of the Afghan interim administration, said 12 Afghan people were killed and over 100 others injured during the clashes.
He claimed that the Afghan side had allegedly captured a tank from the Pakistani side in “counterattacks.”
The Pakistani army also claimed that the Afghan Taliban “destroyed Pak-Afghan Friendship Gate on their side.”
Pakistan’s Stance
Pakistani security official denied that Afghan forces had captured a tank.
The official added that the Afghan Taliban was asking for a ceasefire after “a powerful response” from Pakistan.
Pakistani security sources also claimed to have “eliminated several terrorists” and “seized US-made weapons in the Kurram sector” of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Vows to Defend Sovereignty
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep concern over the “provocations” by the Afghan Taliban and TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) militants along the border.
Sharif reaffirmed that Pakistan’s national integrity and sovereignty “will be defended at all costs,” and “strongly condemned the use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities inside Pakistan,” according to a statement from his office.
