Taliban security personnel stand guard near the closed gates of Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on September 6, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pakistan on September 11 accused Afghanistan of “unprovoked and indiscriminate” firing leading to the closure of a key border crossing, and said such attacks embolden terrorists who already have sanctuaries in the Taliban-led nation.

Torkham border crossing — the main point of transit for travellers and goods between Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan — was closed on Wednesday last week after security forces from both countries exchanged fire. The incident forced hundreds of vehicles laden with goods to line up and people scrambling to cross over. The two sides have failed to sort out differences over the construction initiated by the Taliban government on the border.

In a statement issued on September 11, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan cannot accept the construction of any structure by the interim Afghan government inside its territory since it violates its sovereignty.

The spokesperson said on September 6, instead of a peaceful resolution, Afghan troops resorted to indiscriminate firing, targeting Pakistan military posts, damaging the infrastructure at the Torkham Border Terminal and putting the lives of both Pakistani and Afghan civilians at risk, when they were stopped from erecting such unlawful structures.

“Such unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on Pakistani border posts cannot be justified under any circumstances. The unprovoked firing by Afghan border security forces invariably emboldens the terrorist elements. These elements are enjoying sanctuaries inside Afghanistan as confirmed by the UN Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team in its latest report,” Ms. Baloch said.

According to a report in The Express Tribune newspaper, disputes linked to the 2,600 km border have been a bone of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades.

The crossing has been closed several times in recent years, including a closure in February that saw thousands of trucks laden with goods stranded on each side of the border for days.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said Pakistan has continued to exercise restraint and prioritise dialogue in the face of persistent unwarranted provocations by Afghan troops deployed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border.

“For the last several decades, Pakistan has facilitated Afghan transit trade and will continue to do so. However, Pakistan cannot allow the misuse of the transit trade agreement. We expect the Afghan interim authorities to be mindful of Pakistan’s concerns, respect the territorial integrity of Pakistan and ensure that the Afghan territory is not used as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Pakistan,” she said.

File photo of a general view of the border post in Torkham, Pakistan
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Pakistani authorities closed a key border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan on September 6 shortly after border guards from the two sides exchanged fire, officials and residents said, in a sign of increasing tensions between the two neighbors.

Reasons why the two sides exchanged fire were not immediately made clear, said Nasrullah Khan, an official in Torkham, a town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

He said Pakistani government and military officials were in contact with their Afghan counterparts to defuse tensions.

Abdul Mateen Qani, the Afghan Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Interior Ministry, confirmed the clash between Afghan and Pakistani forces. He said officials from both sides were attempting to find out what caused the clash and ways to prevent such incidents in the future.

Pakistani authorities said dozens of trucks carrying perishable items, including vegetables and fruits, were waiting on both sides of the border for the reopening of the Torkham crossing, which is a vital commercial artery and trade route to Central Asian countries for Pakistan.

The border closure comes two days after caretaker Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said U.S. military equipment left behind during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan had fallen into militant hands and made its way to the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have intensified attacks over the past months on Pakistan security forces. They are a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban.

The Afghan Taliban overran Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the last weeks of a chaotic pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

The Pakistani Taliban have released statements and video clips in recent months claiming they possess weapons such as guns with laser and thermal imaging systems.

Torkham witnessed previous clashes in February and the town remained closed for several days after the two sides accused each other of trying to build new posts along the border in February.

According to the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the clashes at the time caused millions in losses to traders whose perishable goods were ruined.

Afghanistan has never recognized the porous border that runs through the Pashtun heartland and dilutes the power of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group on both sides.

Pakistan says it has completed fencing along 97% of the border to stop cross-border attacks and smuggling. Pakistan also accuses the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuaries to Pakistani militants who are living in Afghanistan.

Also on Wednesday, a mortar hit a house near the Afghan border, killing five Pakistanis— a mother and her four children. It was not immediately clear who fired the mortar and police officers were still investigating, local authorities said.

Currently, Pakistani security forces are carrying out intelligence-based operations against insurgency in the region. Militants often fire mortars to target security forces deployed in the region, and it has caused civilian casualties as well in recent years.

In November 2022, the Pakistani Taliban ended a monthslong cease-fire with the government in Islamabad, ordering its fighters to resume attacks across the country.