Afghan border policemen take their positions at the Goshta district of Nangarhar province border, where Afghanistan shares borders with Pakistan, May 2, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS
Pakistan is seen as vital in bringing stability to Afghanistan as most Western forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year.
The United States and other powers involved in Afghanistan have been trying to promote cooperation between the Asian neighbours, who have a history of mistrust.
Afghan officials said the clash on Monday erupted after Pakistani troops tried to repair a gate on the border, in the Afghan district of Goshta, where last week an Afghan border policeman was killed in an exchange of fire.
It is unclear if there were any casualties on Monday.
"This morning's clash began after the Pakistani side continued to repair the gate, which was damaged in the previous fighting," said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province.
Afghanistan says the gate at Pakistan's Gursal military post encroaches on its territory. The Nangarhar governor has spoken several times to Pakistani consular officials to tell them not to repair the gate, Abdulzai said.
Pakistani military spokespersons were not immediately available for comment.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have had testy relations since Pakistan was formed in 1947, at the end of British colonial rule over India. Afghanistan has never officially accepted the border between them.
Pakistan helped the Taliban take power in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Many Afghan leaders say Pakistan is still helping the militants, seeing them as a tool to counter the influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies helping the Taliban and says it wants peace and stability in its western neighbour.
But in an indication of how bad ties have become, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, without naming Pakistan, last week called on the Taliban to fight Afghanistan's neighbour, where, he said, plots were made against Afghanistan.
Earlier last week, troops from the two sides exchanged fire for about five hours.
Karzai has ordered officials to take "immediate action" to remove the gate and other Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line, the 1893 British-mandated border.
Afghanistan maintains that activity by either side along the Durand Line must be approved by both countries.
COMMENTS (54)
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@Qatali: "I am sorry but you are choosing the wrong side and if you insist then you can pack up your stuff and move to a place where it belongs to pakistan"
I already am in Pakistan, I live in Peshawar, and Peshawar is Pakistan. The Durand Line is legal and no territory on our side of that border belongs to Afghanistan.
@Khan of Jandul: KPK was directly under the jurisdiction of the British crown, hence Pakistan was going to naturally inherit that province, referendum or no referendum. Still that referendum was held anyway only in order to assuage the sensitivities of Pakhtun nationalists, who then treacherously boycotted it, and so the voters that turned up voted in favor of joining Pakistan. All perfectly legal, democratic and, most of all, transparent.
Moreover, that referendum was held in July 1947, before the creation of Pakistan, so Our Great Leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah was in no position to dismiss anything yet. Everything there went according to the legal mechanisms set up by Britain and the Indian National Congress-dominated government of British India.
As for FATA, M. A. Jinnah reached separate agreements with them under which they willingly joined Pakistan as self-governing autonomous entities, and Dir, Swat and Chitral were princely states whose rulers willingly acceded to Pakistan over the years and decades following 1947. Also completely legal.
Today no Pakistani Pakhtun (apart from a handful who have personal vested interests) has ever regretted joining Pakistan, and certainly none of them has any interest in joining Afghanistan, no matter how much you tout pan-Pashtunist propaganda.
@Qatali: Okay, so you think Pakistan is such a God-forsaken place with all its corruption and bankruptcy. So what alternative are you offering us? Afghanistan?!?!? You've got to be joking, right?
@Express Tribune: Please let me know why you didn't publish my 2 posts in response to Qatali. It would be really appreciated. Thank you.
If Afghans want to abolish the Durand Line in the name of Pakhtun unity, then Pakistan has more Pakhtuns than Afghanistan and are living in much greater living standards and level of prosperity than Afghans, and that fact is never going to change.
If the Afghans want Pakhtun unity and get rid of the Durand Line, then they should abolish their own country and government and become the fifth province of Pakistan.
Problem solved.
Dear Afghans, the Durand Line is a legal border, period. No amount of self-serving denials on your part can change the truth. If you don't like the Durand Line you should not have signed the treaty that established it, simple!
You yourselves created that border, now live with it.
To top it off, Afghanistan is land locked. With hardly any arable land.
'nuff said.
@Taha Durrani, , The Durand Line is here to stay, we Pakistani Pashtuns want that border.
Are you sure you want that? Take my advice and don’t rush, pakistan has nothing to offer you, a corrupt government a bankrupt economy which survives on charity and donations from western countries in your language "kaferoon" and is one of the most isolated countries in the world, I am sorry but you are choosing the wrong side and if you insist then you can pack up your stuff and move to a place where it belongs to pakistan - can you also not use Afghan heroes name.
@Pak Pashtun:take back your refugees who have been eating out of KPK pashtuns hands for 3 decades? Please make a note that they are not refugees as long as the border dispute is not resolved.
@theirony:
Except..KPK is not Afghan land. Afg Pashtunistan is KPK land! More people, more history, stronger, better, smarter, way more capable of using brain!
And how and when are you going to pay back for our efforts??? " Afghanistan would have simply thanks Pakistan for its support during the Soviet invasion, its support with Afghan refugees, and with its support for reestablishing stability and a nation without the fear brutality by Taliban militants."
And how come you even dare to post "right to afghan land" when you even cant take back your refugees who have been eating out of KPK pashtuns hands for 3 decades? Does that sound like a country KPK would "surrender" to?
@theirony very beautiful words. really appreciated.
The irony is Afghanistan just wants peace. Your intelligence services with playbooks from Zia Ul Haq's time refuse to allow peace to flourish in the region. How can you have a border and respectful relations with a neighbor that is sending militants by the thousands to killed your civilians daily? Pakistan is the only country in the world that believes tremendous instability in a neighboring state is beneficial to its interests. Afghanistan would have simply thanks Pakistan for its support during the Soviet invasion, its support with Afghan refugees, and with its support for reestablishing stability and a nation without the fear brutality by Taliban militants.
That potential possibility will never occur now. The so called brotherhood is gone. You've shown all your intentions to the Afghan people. And one thing about Afghans is they don't forget. There is no end game in Pakistani foreign policy. The United States is not leaving. All Pakistan has done is set itself sternly on the wrong side of history with all its neighbors and the international community. So now, naturally Afghans want a right to the lands neglected and used to export militants to the detriment of their country. You have nobody to blame but your own policies. But of course, it will continue. It's the only path Pakistan understands and is capable of.
Let us all get one thing straight: The Durand Line is here to stay, we Pakistani Pashtuns want that border, no matter what Afghanistan does, it can NEVER change this fact. The Afghans better behave otherwise we Pakistanis will keep making them suffer. They deserve it.
The Afghans don't seem to understand that eliminating the Durand Line is NOT necessary to attain Pashtun unity. In fact, a solid international border is very strongly needed there to maintain a robust border-security regime that can eliminate terrorism while still allowing regulated legitimate traffic from both sides, it is Pashtuns on both sides of that border who stand to benefit the most this way. In Europe there are legal international borders dividing various nations but there are still free movement of people and goods, very accommodating visa regimes, free exchanges of culture, people and money, and cross-border employment arrangements. It's the same with the border between the United States and Canada. The same thing can be arranged in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the same set up and benefits can be achieved here, in addition to the increased security that the presence of a solid border will guarantee given the situation. This way the Pakistani Pashtuns – who have absolutely no wish to be a part of Afghanistan anyway – can remain in the country they consider their home (Pakistan), the Afghans can have their Pashtun unity and Pakistan can have its territorial integrity remain intact. Everybody wins. If only the Afghans would cooperate instead of disingenuously masking their plain simple expansionism behind a facade of pan-Pashtunism.
@maria, first let me enrich your general knowledge, Afghanis is our currency's name if you mean Afghan then just say Afghan, or if you want to insult us then that shows your personality. Second in terms of "effective border barrier" I think you refer to voilence in peshawar as a reuslt of illigal Afghans I can assure you its not Afghans but indeed your pak brothers who love to creat problem in Afghanistan, india, kashmir, UK, USA every where.
Its not Afghanistan falling into choas but itis pakistan which is in choas i mean common look around you and see how many people are killed in bomb blast, sucide attacks daily in karachi, peshawar, lahore... okay in Afghanistan talibans are attacking for a (stupid) reason because they have been brainwashed by their masters in madrasa but what about pakistan, isnt it an islamic country..? Why cant you handle it.
Afghan refugess pay for their bills and contribute to your country's bankrupt economy if they put one dollor towards the economy in a day it will be millions and ya dont worry they are leaving and there wont be any Afghan but of course the voilence will be there and i'd wonder whom you'll blame for the voicelece.
@Naveed Alam Khattak: We punjabis are proud to be your brothers and i hope we all, pashtoons, sindhis, balochis, seraikis, punjabis, kashmiries, baltis etc will join hand in hand for progress and development of our beloved pakistan and will foil every intention or effort of anyone to induce ethnic hatred among us! we are diverse, we are beautiful and we are united. . Pakistan zindabad!
Please read what has been stated by @No Nationalism and @Afghan then offer a response.
Your nation allied itself with the USSR for transit duties when Pakistan denied it access to Karachi in response to agitation by Afghanistan along the Durrand line in the 1950's.
ThIs alliance culminated in an invitation to invade in 1979. Afghanistan then collapsed. The educated class fled abroad.
And now the remaining scions of this dying class have learned nothing from these catastrophic mistakes and still tout Pashtunistan. Despite Pakistani Pashtuns including those on this forum being utterly loyal to Pakistan.
Friend, brother, stop thie charade. Your country is a dust pile. Get your priorities straight.
It's sad how one has to beg ET to get a comment published, but please do.
Welcome to 2013.
Where is this ample evidence?
It is high time for Pashtun unity. Referendum of 1947 was a massive fraud. It was only held in Hazara division and some settled districts under the watch of British Army. Khudai Khedmgar dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gov was dissolved by Jinah. All the tribal areas, the states of Dir, Swat and Chetral were not given the opportunity to vote. So it was a fraud which was enforced through sword. There is ample historical evidence showing Pashtun hatred for the this line which runs through Pashtun heartland. Apart of the nonacceptance of the line by successive Afghan governments and their efforts for unification of this line, many Pashtun leaders on this side of Durand Line have also undertaken many struggles against British Forces and Pakistani occupation of Pashtun lands. Umara Khan Janduli, Faqir Eppi of Waziristan, Bacha Khan never recognized Durand Line.
@Naveed Alam Khattak: So proud of you...
@Afghanistan: "Dear my sister, instead of sending military to border to fight Afghans, first it would be better to get rid of TTP and Waziristan."
Afghanistan, the TTP is in Kunar and Nuristan.
Oh Maria,,,why bring in India....love it or hate ir, but u can't live without it??????????????
Why all the fuss? Because Karzai needs issue that could give him a chance of political survival after ISAF leave. In theory one could say it was time for Pakistani Pashtuns to claim Pashtun lands on the other side of the Durrand line. There are more Pakistani's with a Pashtun Background than in any other country and they are economically and politically better off even though they have taken on many of the burdens that Afghanistan have faced over the last four decades.
pakistani342.blogspot.com . Pakistan and Afghanistan disentanglement is desired: 1. Pakistan should expel all 3 million Afghans refugees from Pakistan - No need to host a people who are ungrateful and hostile to Pakistanis 2. The resources Afghans consume in Pakistan: hospitals, universities should go to Pakistanis - no point in giving, Afghans, who hate us Pakistanis 3. Pakistan should not provide transit trade to Afghans - it will reduce drugs and guns in Pakistan.
@Maria: "*...an effective border barrier set up all along the Western border... * Another western border comes to mind. The Berlin Wall was "set up all along the Western border" of Communism in Germany. We all know what its fate was. Fascisms anywhere cannot even be protected by high and "effective border barrier "!
@Afghan... Don't talk about Punjabis. Punjabis are our brothers. We know that we (pashtuns) are the biggest part of Pakistan Army. All Army Centers (6 Infantry Training Centers, Armoured Corps Center, Supply Center) and other Important Army Installations are in KPK. This is confidence of Pakistan Army on Pashtuns. We are proud to be part of Pakistan Army. Pakistan Zindabad...Long Live Pakistan Army.
@Afghan: Please go and pour your hate speech on some indian paper, they will be happy and welcome you! And i guess you can't prevent yourself from hate speech and the irony is most of afghani websites like tolo, afg daily don't offer comments!
@Jim Jones: It is built on Afghan territory that the Afghan government sold to Pakistan so now that territory is legally Pakistan's.
I dont understand why afghans are upset. Unlike Kashmir this border is open all the time.
I am pretty sure most of the Afghans who are bashing Pakistan are actually living in KPK, Karachi and in Islamabad and they are eating from this land but in return that is how they say thanks.
It's not clear, is the post built inside Afghanistan or Pakistan?
@afghanistan I think you are delusional and less logical in assertions. NA in Afghanistan is pumping same retro which they did in 70's as students. NA wants to show its superiority by hiding it's inferiority. Dream on, I as Pushtoon can easily say one thing, we are sick and tired of Afghanistan's backwardness and stupid ideology. We will live n die for Pakistan. Take this as warning!
@@Barakzai:
If you go through neutral sources we destroyed that post 3 days ago. Your army is trying to repair it but we wont allow it Inshallah
@Maria: Dear my sister, instead of sending military to border to fight Afghans, first it would be better to get rid of TTP and Waziristan. In the past 10 years, your army with all those weapons and facilities they have, they can not fight TTP and now a small party like TTP can destabilize Pakistan, how can you fight with Afghans whom whole life have spent in fight. I think it is time for Pakistan to stop sending proxies and learn how to live with its neighbours.
@Maria: Dear my sister, instead of sending military to border to fight Afghans, first it would be better to get rid of TTP and Waziristan. In the past 10 years, your army with all those weapons and facilities they have, they can not fight TTP and and now a small party like TTP can destabilize Pakistan, how can you fight with Afghans whom whol life have spent in fight.
Destroyed it where? How? With what? I know Afghans love destruction but facts are sadly exempt from this passion.
Before making grandiose staments, be pragmatic. While you're at it, tell me if you live in Afghanistan? Do you? If you don't, that should tell you who or what is destroyed and who or what should focus on keeping quiet.
ET can you not be Nazis and publish this. You let so many foreigners make right wing attacks without rebuttal.
@No Nationalism:
We have already destroyed that post once and we will do it again. Your army has to withdraw from Afghan land, I know you always underestimate you enemy and this your biggest weakness
Afghanistan never protested with British about the Durand Line and gladly accepted it. So the moral of the history is that remain powerful and Afghan history from Ranjit Singh to British tell usthat as long as you remain in Power they remain in silence and a Stronger Pakistan and a Stronger Pakistan Army is the need of the hour.
In response to your second question @Afghan, Afghanistan is getting a taste of its own medicine in the form of incursions. Why did Afghanistan try "mini invasions" and incursions along the Durrand line in 1950, 1951, 1955, 1962, and countless minor incursions? Heck, Kabul even had a Pashtunistan square. Bet you can't find 5 Pakistani Pashtuns who support Afghanistan though.
Look, we Pakistanis also have the same problem i.e obsession with Kashmir. Believe me, you'll only get more death and destruction out of it. Albeit more, seeing as I'm still living in Pakistan whereas for all intents and purposes Afghanistan is a hellhole (I'm assuming you live in the West). If Afghanistan had given up its obsession in 1948, the Soviet alliance and invasion would never have happened. If Pakistan had given up Kashmir in 1948, East Pakistan would never have been invaded. Friendly neighbours are an asset. Your country of a puny 25 million really doesn't have a chance against 190 million. Same, Pakistan doesn't have a chance against 1.2 billion Indians.
Let go! Pashtunistan is never going to happen. Esp not when you sit in New York or worse Karachi and taunt us about an impossibility. Rebuild Afghanistan, educate women, build factories. And save Pashtunistan for your dreams. Just as Kashmir is nothing but a Pakistani dream.
Why would Pakistani Pashtuns side with barbarians who have destroyed their country and have no regard for modern economy, or culture? We didn't blow up the Bamiyan Buddha's. Or run the most repressive regime in the world. Pakistan gives Pashtuns jobs, money, a future. There are 29 million Pashtuns here and only 12 million in Afghanistan. Pakistani Pashtuns want nothing to do with your country of dust and rubble.
Pakistani Pashtuns are over represented in the Army, Civil Service, and are 7 million in number in Karachi. Put another way, 70% of Afghanistan's total Pashtun population lives in Karachi. Stop dictating to us.
Afghanistan has ruined the name of Pashtuns internationally. The Punjabis get 51% of the total revenue under the NFC despite having 56% of the population and 65% of the industrial output.
KPK alone has a larger economy than whole of Afghanistan. Difference between Pakistani and Afghan Pashtuns is that here, Pakistani Pashtuns think with their head. Over there, despite having a per capita income of $500, they still have the audacity to bring up Pashtunistan. Lol.
And why do you Afghans living in other countries trying to defend your wasteland neglect the 50% of Afghans who are Tajik or Hazara, then try preaching about Punjabis?
Pakistan Zindabad. Za Pakistani Pakhtun yam.
@No Way i respect what pakistanis did for afghan refugees but do you mind telling me why is a pakistani army check pont setup inside goshta district of ningarhar province 42 kilometers away from the so called durrand line? isnt this act of war to provoke your muslim neighbor to go to war? like we respect our ANA i know you also respect your Pak army but before judging why dont you ask this simple questions from yourself?
I belive af pk gov should talk seriously n resolve the isse as INDIA n china done.
GANDHI techniqe works
@Afghan: I sincerely hope there is no conflict between two muslim countries with long cultural and historic ties. But you should be in no doubt what so ever, that the only "pashtuns" who will side with Afghanistan are the ones sponsored by Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies (ie the TTP). Pakistanis will stand shoulder to shoulder with its army. Pakistan has hosted up to 5 million afghan refugees as it was its international and humanitarian duty, and Pakistanis will continue to extend aid, protection and refuge regardless of the politics.
its time for Afghanistan and India to step up and erase this terror cancer from this world. we Afghans know who are our enemies and who are our friends, if the pakistani pashtoons are smart enough they would side with their brothers not with punjabis.
Dear Barakzai, I understand that living abroad you educated Afghans have a desire to see anything go right for Afghanistan, but rest assured that Pakistani Pashtuns will step forward to crush Afghanistan if it continues pushing us. Please read on the Bajaur incursion and how Pashtun tribesmen from FATA kicked Afghan behind for an example :-)
What this whole issue boils down to is the Durrand line, and the fact that Afghanistan has never recognised it, despite Pakistani Pashtuns being by and large satisfied with Pakistan and apathetic to belligerent with regards to Afghanistan.
What's interesting to me is that Afghanistan always claims the Durrand line is illegal because it splits Pashtun "brothers" - but what about Afghan Tajiks, Uzebeks, Kirghiz, etc? Is Afghanistan a Pashtun ethnocracy? The Afghans love to denigrate Punjabis for repressing the Pashtuns in Pakistan but don't see the irony in their own claims on the Durrand line. The borders Afghanistan shares with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were dictated by the Russians but Afghanistan doesn't question them...fishy.
Anyway, pushing Pakistan on the Durrand line has driven Afghanistan to the state it is today. I am republishing the history of Afghan Pak relations, if ET would kindly allow, to give a reasoning to my claim.
Afghanistan rejected Pakistan’s admission to the UN on the basis of the Durrand line in 1948 and attempted armed incursions in Chaman in 1950/1951, Pakistan responded by blocking Afghan access to Karachi’s ports in 1953 after which Afghanistan was drawn into the Soviet orbit in search of trasit facilities in 1954. Daud Khan’s premiership saw constant aggression over the Durrand line including an incursion into Bajaur in 1962 which failed and saw hid dismissalAll this despite Pakistani Pashtuns showing no inclination for Pashtunistan post 48.After the 1973 Saur revolution Daud returned to power and continued to push Pakistan’s buttons over “Pashtunistan”. The Soviets were invited to invade the country by the Afghan government after Daud's assassination in 1979. Pakistan then supported the Mujahideen and their successor the Taliban (Enter Strategic Depth) in the hopes of for once having a passive relationship with the Afghans.It is Afghanistan’s obsession with Pashtunistan that has led it to ruin, just as Pakistan’s Kashmir obsession has led it to its.
If you talk about Afghan in Islamabad that is fine. They are refugees. Afghans living in PK are in their own territory. Fighting with Afghanistan will further destabilize Pakistan. Looking at the internal situation of Pakistan right now, you are not in a position. In addition to this, If Islamabad starting fighting with Afghanistan, the Afghans (Pashtuns) on both side of the Duranline will fight against Pajabis in Pakistan
Looks like war is eminent. Pashtuns do not have a choice of peace, they have to fight this war I would guess.
Inshallah ANA will push back foreign aggressor
About time we place landmines & electric shock barbered wire along the border...
It's time for the Pakistani army to send further re enforcements to ensure the gate repair and send a clear signal to Afghanis and their Indian masters. Not only should the border be more secured but all Afghani refugees should be deported and an effective border barrier set up all along the Western border so that Illegal Afghanis not enter again after that country falls into chaos when the Western forces leaves.