Clashes erupted Tuesday between Pakistani and Afghan forces in a remote northwestern border region, with state-run media in Pakistan accusing Afghan troops of opening “unprovoked fire” that was repulsed.
Pakistani forces responded, damaging Afghan tanks and military posts, according to Pakistan TV and two security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Tahir Ahrar, a deputy police spokesperson in Afghanistan’s Khost province, confirmed the clashes but provided no further details.
This is the second time this week that the two sides have traded fire along their long border.
According to Pakistan’s state-run media, Afghan forces and Pakistani Taliban jointly opened fire at a Pakistani post “without provocation,” prompting what the media described as a “strong response” from Pakistani troops in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Security officials said Pakistan’s military also destroyed a sprawling training facility of the Pakistani Taliban.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan’s military, which has been on high alert since Saturday, when both sides traded fire across multiple border regions, resulting in dozens of casualties on each side.
Although the clashes halted on Sunday after appeals from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained closed.
Over the weekend, Kabul said that it targeted several Pakistani military posts and killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in retaliation for what it called repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace. Pakistan’s military reported lower figures, saying it lost 23 soldiers and killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire along the frontier.
Tensions have remained high since last week, when the Taliban government accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes in Kabul and in an eastern market. Pakistan has not acknowledged those allegations.
But Pakistan has previously launched strikes inside Afghanistan, saying it targets hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring the group, which has carried out numerous deadly attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies the charge, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
___
Associated Press writer Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, contributed to this story.
