Kabul/Islamabad: – Taliban and Pakistan had artillery fire exchange at the Durand Line. Senior journalists and analysts from Pakistan are warning that a conflict with the Taliban is inevitable. Taliban had uprooted the barbed wire fence at the Durand Line laid by Pakistan, claiming that the Taliban did not accept the border, just like the previous governments. Many skirmishes between the Taliban and the Pakistan military were reported. But the encounter at the Durand Line on Tuesday was even more intense.
Moreover, the Pakistan military launched artillery attacks on the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. The Pakistani shells landed in the Dangam district. The Taliban members ready inside the Afghanistan border also retaliated with artillery fire. Heavy firing was reported from both sides. It is claimed that this is the first time in one and a half months that such an intense encounter was reported between the Taliban and the Pakistan military. In the Kunar province, the Taliban and Pakistan army had exchanged fire even in December.
The 2,640 kilometres long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is known as the Durand Line. Every head of the State in Afghanistan has announced that this line drawn by the British nearly a hundred years ago was unacceptable to Afghanistan. Thus, the Taliban has maintained the same stand.
After the Tuesday incident, Mohammed Yaqoob Mujahid, who is declared the acting defence minister by the Taliban, lambasted Pakistan harshly. Yaqoob Mujahid asserted ‘Negotiations are still going on between Pakistan and Taliban over the Durand Line. The dispute has not been resolved. In this scenario, the Taliban has not permitted Pakistan to lay barbed wire fences at the Durand Line.’ With this Taliban is only trying to show that Pakistan cannot lay the fencing at the Durand Line without Taliban approval.
Moreover, the Taliban’s opinion about the Durand Line, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Baloch rebels and the other issues are adding to the concerns of Pakistan. Six months ago, Pakistan installed the Taliban in the seat of power in Afghanistan. Pakistani media had also claimed that the notorious Pakistani intelligence agency ISI had a significant role in forming the Taliban regime. But Pakistan has realised that the Taliban is not willing to give any importance to Pakistan after acquiring power.
Furthermore, it is being revealed that against this background, ISI chief Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum met the anti-Taliban Afghan leaders in Turkey. An Afghan daily claimed that these included Abdul Rashid Khan Dostum, Atta Mohammad Noor and Muhammad Muhaqiq, known to be bitter opponents of Taliban. As per the daily, Pakistan is pressurising the Taliban to form an all-inclusive government in Afghanistan and this meeting was a step in that direction. But Pakistan has dismissed the news saying that there is no truth in the report.
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