Pakistan Accuses Afghan Taliban of Building ‘Unlawful Structures’ and ‘Indiscriminate Firing’ Across Border

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Monday accused the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan of building “unlawful structures” on the border and engaging in “indiscriminate firing” at Pakistan’s security forces. The Taliban claimed it was Pakistani troops who opened fire on Taliban forces as they attempted to repair an old border security outpost.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Monday:

On the 6th of September, instead of a peaceful resolution, Afghan troops resorted to indiscriminate firing, targeting Pakistan military posts, damaging the infrastructure at the Torkham Border Terminal, and putting the lives of both Pakistani and Afghan civilians at risk, when they were stopped from erecting such unlawful structures. 

The dispute Baloch wanted the Taliban to resolve peacefully involved Pakistan’s closing of the Torkham border crossing, the main route of access and trade between the two countries.

Pakistan closed Torkham Wednesday after gunfire was exchanged between Pakistani and Afghan border forces. Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, complained last week that terrorists from Afghanistan had been attacking Pakistani troops with captured American weapons abandoned by President Joe Biden during his bungled August 2021 withdrawal.

Many of these attacks have been claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the “Pakistani Taliban,” a militant group with strong ideological ties to the Afghan Taliban. Baloch criticized the regime in Kabul for allowing TTP to operate from Afghan soil.

“These elements are enjoying sanctuaries inside Afghanistan, as confirmed by the U.N. Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team in its latest report,” she charged.

“We expect the Afghan interim authorities to be mindful of Pakistan’s concerns, respect the territorial integrity of Pakistan, and ensure that the Afghan territory is not used as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Pakistan,” she said.

The Taliban regime in Kabul said Pakistan’s shutdown of the Torkham border crossing has inflicted heavy losses on Afghan businesses. The Taliban also claimed it was Pakistan that first began shooting across the border.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan deems the closure of Torkham gate and opening of fire on Afghan security forces by the Pakistani side contrary to good neighborliness,” the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. 

“The closure of Torkham gate can adversely affect bilateral and regional trade and cause trade and financial losses to common mercantile class on both sides,” the ministry said.

The Taliban claimed its personnel were only attempting to repair an “old security post constructed several years ago” when they came under fire from Pakistan.

Pakistan responded that it “cannot accept the construction of any structures” within its territory “since these violate its sovereignty.”