Cross border shelling: Kabul delivers rebuke to Pakistan envoy
Security forces targeted TTP, not Afghan civilians, says ambassador.
KARACHI:
The Afghan foreign ministry summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan on Monday to protest the recent cross-border shelling into the country’s eastern provinces.
“Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq was summoned and told to ask his government to immediately stop artillery shelling,” the Afghan ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Pakistani security forces reportedly fired over 300 rockets into the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. Afghan officials claimed that the shelling caused loss of life and property and several people in border villages have fled the shelling.
“As Afghanistan wants to maintain good neighbourly relations with Pakistan, continuity of attacks will negatively impact the ties. The ministry of foreign affairs urges Pakistan to stop the shelling forthwith,” said the statement.
Ambassador Sadiq confirmed that he was summoned to the Afghan foreign ministry. “I told them that the Pakistani forces targeted militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), not Afghan civilians. However, the loss of life and property is regrettable,” he told The Express Tribune by phone from Kabul.
TTP militants, aided by Afghan locals, have carried out several cross border attacks in Dir and Chitral district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing dozens of security personnel.
Pakistan’s military says that hundreds of TTP insurgents and their senior cadres who had fled military operations in Mohmand and Bajaur agencies and Malakand division have found safe havens in Kunar and Nuristan.
Ambassador Sadiq said there was little or no writ of the government in the two eastern Afghan provinces which are used by the TTP militants as a launching pad for cross border attacks in Pakistani border villages. The Afghan defence ministry expressed concerns over Pakistani shelling and warned it was ready for a tit-for-tat response, if the shelling was not stopped.
However, Ambassador Sadiq said the Afghan defence ministry should deploy troops to their eastern provinces to stop cross border attacks by TTP militants and their Afghan collaborators.
Nuristan Governor Tameem Nuristani had admitted in an earlier interview with The Express Tribune that only Afghan police were responsible for security in his province and that he had requested the government for Afghan National Army troops to boost security. (With additional input from news wires)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2011.
The Afghan foreign ministry summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan on Monday to protest the recent cross-border shelling into the country’s eastern provinces.
“Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq was summoned and told to ask his government to immediately stop artillery shelling,” the Afghan ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Pakistani security forces reportedly fired over 300 rockets into the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. Afghan officials claimed that the shelling caused loss of life and property and several people in border villages have fled the shelling.
“As Afghanistan wants to maintain good neighbourly relations with Pakistan, continuity of attacks will negatively impact the ties. The ministry of foreign affairs urges Pakistan to stop the shelling forthwith,” said the statement.
Ambassador Sadiq confirmed that he was summoned to the Afghan foreign ministry. “I told them that the Pakistani forces targeted militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), not Afghan civilians. However, the loss of life and property is regrettable,” he told The Express Tribune by phone from Kabul.
TTP militants, aided by Afghan locals, have carried out several cross border attacks in Dir and Chitral district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing dozens of security personnel.
Pakistan’s military says that hundreds of TTP insurgents and their senior cadres who had fled military operations in Mohmand and Bajaur agencies and Malakand division have found safe havens in Kunar and Nuristan.
Ambassador Sadiq said there was little or no writ of the government in the two eastern Afghan provinces which are used by the TTP militants as a launching pad for cross border attacks in Pakistani border villages. The Afghan defence ministry expressed concerns over Pakistani shelling and warned it was ready for a tit-for-tat response, if the shelling was not stopped.
However, Ambassador Sadiq said the Afghan defence ministry should deploy troops to their eastern provinces to stop cross border attacks by TTP militants and their Afghan collaborators.
Nuristan Governor Tameem Nuristani had admitted in an earlier interview with The Express Tribune that only Afghan police were responsible for security in his province and that he had requested the government for Afghan National Army troops to boost security. (With additional input from news wires)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2011.