The Afghan Taliban government and Pakistani authorities have agreed to form a commission to resolve any disputes arising over the Durand Line, an unclear border demarcation dating back to colonial times in which violent clashes between the security forces of the two countries are frequent.
«Any tension on either side of the border should be resolved through dialogue. The commission is the result of an agreement between the two sides,» Afghan chargé d’affaires in Islamabad, Sardar Ahmad Shakib, has indicated, reports Afghan Tolo television.
Armed clashes between the security forces of the two countries are common and many local residents have had to flee due to the violence.
Shakib said that more than 2,500 Afghan refugees are being held by Pakistani security forces and that they are in contact with Islamabad to try to facilitate their release.
«It has been four months since Pakistan started detaining our compatriots. So far at least 2,000 Afghan refugees, including women and children, have been detained,» Shakib said.
Two armed clashes took place last week between the forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the country’s official name since the Taliban takeover — and Pakistani forces, resulting in several deaths and injuries.
In response, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Shakib himself to «strongly protest» the latest clashes, which Islamabad has blamed on the fundamentalist movement.
The volatile border between the two countries has been the scene of two clashes in less than seven days, the latest on Thursday, when one person was killed and 15 others injured in the Pakistani town of Chaman, Balochistan province, in what the Pakistani government described as an «indiscriminate» attack by Taliban border forces on civilians across the border.
On the contrary, the Taliban claim that the Pakistani forces opened fire on their troops when they were setting up a checkpoint in Afghan territory, according to sources of the fundamentalist movement, on condition of anonymity, to the Afghan channel Ariana News.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
