Calm returned to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman on Saturday after heavy clashes occurred between the two sides a day earlier.
At least three civilians were injured in the clashes last night and were shifted to the district hospital in Chaman. On the Afghan side, five people were injured, according to Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat.
According to officials, Afghan forces fired mortar shells on the Badani area, prompting security forces to retaliate. However, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed it was Pakistan that launched an attack on Spin Boldak, alleging that their forces were responding.
Prime Minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, however, confirmed the clashes.
In a post on X early Saturday morning, he said, “A short while ago, the Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing along the Chaman border. An immediate, befitting & intense response has been given by our armed forces.”
“Pakistan remains fully alert & committed to ensuring its territorial integrity & the safety [of] our citizens,” he added.
A senior official in Quetta also confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the exchange of fire started at around 10pm and continued till late at night.
The clash comes amid stalled negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan after three rounds of talks in Istanbul could not yield any results.
Border clashes first broke out between the two nations on October 11. Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan have come under strain in recent times as the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains the main point of contention between the two countries.
Pakistan has demanded that the rulers in Kabul take action to stop cross-border terrorism.
A day earlier, the spokesperson Foreign Office (FO) had reiterated Pakistan’s willingness to engage in talks with Afghanistan.
Pakistan-Afghanistan talks
Soon after the clashes on Oct 11, a temporary ceasefire was called on Oct 15, after the two sides came together to engage in dialogue in Doha.
Following the Doha talks, a temporary ceasefire continued to prevent border hostilities while the two sides committed to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
On Oct 25, the second round of talks between the two sides began in the Turkish capital. But, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced in a post on X on Oct 29 that the talks “failed to bring about any workable solution”.
However, mediators Turkiye and Qatar intervened and managed to salvage the dialogue process with an Oct 31 joint statement released by Turkiye stating that “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a principal-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6.
But on November 7, after the third round of talks, Defence Minister Khawaja said that talks addressing cross-border terrorism were “over” and “entered an indefinite phase” as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences between the two sides.
Following the failure of the talks, the Afghan Taliban suspended trade ties with Pakistan. Pakistan had already closed its border for trade soon after the clashes.
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