By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Key border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained shut for a second day on Monday, stranding hundreds of travellers and suspending bilateral trade after deadly clashes over the weekend escalated tensions between the two neighbors, officials said.
The fighting erupted Saturday night when Afghan forces struck multiple Pakistani military posts. Afghan officials claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in response to what they described as repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace. Pakistan’s military reported lower casualties, saying it had lost 23 soldiers while killing more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire along the border.
Foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, called for restraint, and a ceasefire appeared to be holding. No new exchanges of fire had been reported since Sunday along the 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) Durand Line, the contentious border that Afghanistan has never recognised as legitimate.
It remained unclear when the crossings might reopen, heightening uncertainty for traders and travelers caught in the limbo. At the southwestern Chaman crossing, while trade remained suspended, authorities briefly permitted about 1,500 Afghan nationals who had been stranded since Sunday to return home on foot, according to Imtiaz Ali, a government officer.
The northwestern Torkham crossing in Pakistan stayed shut to all travel and trade on Monday, a closure confirmed by Mujib Ullah, a representative for local traders. Afghan refugees, many of whom were poised to depart Pakistan amid a government crackdown on foreigners living in the country illegally, reported being stuck at Torkham since Sunday. The flare-up came against a backdrop of mounting friction. Tensions had already been high since last week, when Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in a market in eastern Afghanistan. Pakistan did not claim responsibility for those strikes.
Islamabad has carried out strikes inside Afghanistan in the past, targeting what it calls militant hideouts. While the two countries have skirmished along the border before, the latest violence marked the deadliest episode yet, highlighting their deepening hostility. Pakistan has long accused the government in Kabul of sheltering members of the banned Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which Islamabad blames for deadly attacks within its borders. Kabul rejects the allegation, insisting it does not permit its territory to be used against other nations.
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