Pakistan has forcefully reacted to the Taliban’s announcement regarding the closure of the Torkham border, declaring that “no structures will be allowed in their territory” and that “unprovoked fire was initiated by the Afghan side” as an indication of the rising tension between the two countries. Additionally, it has urged the Taliban to prevent terrorist strikes against Pakistan from being launched from Afghan soil.
According to a News18 report, following gunfire between border guards from the two countries, Pakistani officials shut down the main border crossing on Wednesday with landlocked Afghanistan. A mother and her four children from Pakistan were among five people killed when a shell struck a home close to the Afghan border.
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The border was closed two days after acting Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar claimed that Pakistani Taliban fighters had obtained American military hardware that had been left behind during the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The statement of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs comes as a surprise,” said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the ministry’s spokeswoman, in a statement. “The Interim Afghan side authorities know fully well the reasons for the temporary closure of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham.”
The ministry went on to say that Pakistan couldn’t accept IAG building any structures on its soil since doing so would violate its sovereignty. When they were prevented from erecting such illegal structures on September 6th, Afghan troops turned to indiscriminate firing, targeting Pakistani military posts, causing damage to the Torkham Border Terminal’s infrastructure, and endangering the lives of both Pakistani and Afghan civilians.
