Clashes erupt in tense Afghanistan-Pakistan border area
‘An immediate, befitting and intense response has been given by our armed forces.’
A mortar lies on the ground near a damaged house in Chaman on Dec. 6 following overnight cross-border fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan
AFP photo
AFGHANISTAN (AFP) — Clashes erupted late Friday in a tense border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with each side accusing the other of launching “unprovoked” attacks.
The cross-border violence comes amid heightened tensions between the South Asian neighbors, marked by deadly clashes in recent weeks despite an October truce.
“Unfortunately, tonight, the Pakistani side started attacking Afghanistan in Kandahar, Spin Boldak district, and the forces of the Islamic Emirate were forced to respond,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X late Friday, without providing details.
Pakistan said early Saturday it was Afghanistan that launched the hostilities.
“A short while ago, the Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing” along the border, Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, said on X.
“An immediate, befitting and intense response has been given by our armed forces.”
Residents on the Afghan side of the border told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the exchange of fire broke out around 10:30 p.m. and lasted about two hours.
Ali Mohammed Haqmal, head of Kandahar’s information department, told AFP that Pakistan forces attacked with “light and heavy artillery” and that mortar fire had struck civilian homes.
“The clashes have ended, both sides agreed to stop,” he added.
No casualties were immediately reported.
An AFP correspondent in Chaman, on the Pakistani side of the border, heard artillery fire and explosions.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021.
Security issues are at the heart of the controversy, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, that launch attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban government denies these allegations.
Clashes in October saw more than 70 people killed and hundreds wounded.
That fighting ended with a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but several rounds of talks in Doha and Istanbul have failed to produce a lasting deal.
Kabul last month accused its neighbor of air strikes in a border area that killed 10 people, nine of them children. Islamabad denied the claim.