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Pakistan closes border with Afghanistan after clashes
Pakistan has reportedly called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to hand over a border guard who is suspected of killing a Pakistani Frontier Corps guard at the Spin-Chaman crossing earlier this week.
Pakistan has accused an IEA border guard of crossing over the border and opening fire on Frontier Corps members, killing one and wound two others.
VOA reported that a senior Chaman administration official told VOA by phone that the border crossing was briefly opened late Monday afternoon to allow stranded Afghan and Pakistani pedestrians to return to their native countries, but no trade convoys were permitted to move in either direction.
“The border terminal has now been indefinitely closed for trade and all other movements. It will not be opened until the handing over of the assailant responsible for the martyrdom of the Pakistani soldier,” Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed Zehri told VOA.
Zehri said Pakistan’s attempts to seek a negotiated settlement to the issue failed to produce an outcome, but there were no clashes on Monday.
The Spin Boldak and the northwestern Torkham border crossings serve as the main trade routes for landlocked Afghanistan for bilateral and transit trade with and through Pakistan.
Residents and traders said Monday scores of trucks transporting Afghan transit trade goods and bilateral shipments were stranded on both sides of the border after Pakistan closed the Chaman crossing.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has warned that Afghan immigrants who are waiting in Pakistan to relocate to other countries and whose visas have expired will be arrested and imprisoned for three years.
But a member of Pakistan’s parliament strongly criticizes the treatment of the Pakistani police with Afghan immigrants.
“It is extremely unfortunate that we do not have any policy for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. They are mistreated. The federal government has to devise a policy to protect their rights,” said Mohsin Dawar, a member of the Parliament of Pakistan.
He further added that: “Our government does not have any kind of policy on how to deal with Afghan immigrants in Pakistan, and including the government of Pakistan, UNHCR and the whole world have remained silent against this wrong treatment.”
On the other hand, the local authorities of Kandahar say that the talks between the Afghan and Pakistani authorities have also started regarding the reopening of the Spin Boldak-Chaman crossing.
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Afghanistan says Pakistani military post destroyed near Spin Boldak
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense says a Pakistani military post near Spin Boldak was targeted and destroyed after Pakistani forces opened fire toward Afghanistan.
Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi said in a post on X that Afghan forces suffered no casualties or damage in the clash.
Khwarazmi also rejected claims made by the Pakistani side about the incident, describing them as “propaganda.”
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Mujahid: Pakistan attacking Afghanistan to evade Mecca Pact responsibilities
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks on Afghanistan to divert attention from its domestic problems and to evade responsibilities under the “Mecca Pact.”
Speaking at a religious seminary in Kandahar, Mujahid said Pakistan was facing political and economic challenges at home and was using attacks on Afghanistan to shift public attention away from protests and its internal problems.
“Pakistan, by violating the territory of its neighboring Islamic country, wants to divert attention from its failures,” he said.
Mujahid also criticized Pakistan’s political situation, claiming that political space had been restricted and that freedoms guaranteed under the country’s laws were not being allowed.
He said Pakistan’s economic problems had also increased significantly and accused the country of seeking to distract the public from those problems by engaging in conflict with Afghanistan.
Mujahid further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of putting the Pakistani people at risk through what he described as its “false position.”
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
His remarks followed Pakistani airstrikes on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Thursday, which Afghan authorities said killed four civilians.
The strikes came three days after attacks on Kunar and Paktika provinces, in which Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed.
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Kabul rejects U.S. claim that meth seized in Pakistan was of Afghan origin
Balkhi said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi has rejected a U.S. claim that 463 kilograms of synthetic drugs seized in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, calling the attribution “unfounded and politically motivated.”
Balkhi said the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad should investigate the origin of the seized drugs in Pakistan rather than attributing them to Afghanistan.
“The attribution by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad of the synthetic drugs bound for Sri Lanka and intercepted in Pakistan through joint U.S.-Pakistani efforts as ‘Afghan-origin’ is an unfounded and politically motivated allegation,” Balkhi said.
He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Balkhi also claimed that following the ban in Afghanistan, the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics have increased “on the other side of the Durand Line.”
He further argued that Afghanistan does not have the capacity to produce synthetic drugs and said crossing points along the Durand Line have been completely closed to all movement for nearly a year.
His remarks came after the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said U.S. and Pakistani anti-narcotics authorities had seized 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $21 million and bound for Sri Lanka.
The embassy said the operation led to multiple arrests and highlighted ongoing U.S. cooperation and training with Pakistani authorities to disrupt international drug-trafficking networks.
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