A delegation of tribal elders and religious scholars from Pakistan have called for an end to the clashes with the Taliban border guards at the Durand Line, a statement by Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad.
During a special meeting in the Spin Boldak district on Monday, the Pakistani delegation and the Taliban officials agreed to resolve their future differences through dialogue and diplomacy, the statement read.
Haji Zaid, the spokesperson for Kandahar province, noted that both the “brotherly Islamic nations” agreed to resolve the differences over the Durand Line through negotiation.
The meeting takes place following recent clashes at the Spin Boldak-Chaman border, also known as the ‘Friendship Gate’. Pakistan has accused the Taliban of resorting to the use of artillery and mortars to shell the civilian population in Chaman, located in the Balochistan province.
At least eight people die on from the Pakistani side n the two shelling incidents which have rocked the border in the last 10 days, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accusing the Taliban of “unprovoked shelling”.
Pakistan’s Frontier Corps (FC), in-charge of manning the Afghanistan border, said that its guards returned the fire on both the occasions.
Following the last week’s incident, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Afghan Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad to convey Islamabad’s condemnation of the “unprovoked cross-border shelling”, per a statement this week.
Pakistan has been carrying out fencing along the border to reinforce its territorial claims, which has been objected to by the Taliban. The current government in Kabul, like the previous Afghan governments, has refused to recognize the 1893-era Durand Line as the official border.
A flag meeting of security officials from both the countries to bring down the temperature between the two countries’ border guards has been postponed pending the conclusion of the visit of the Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan.
*under UN sanctions for terrorism