The Taliban said on Wednesday that a disagreement between its fighters and the Pakistani Army at the Durand Line the evening before escalated into a fatal shootout which resulted in casualties on both sides.
“The building of military installations and border posts aren’t allowed near the Durand Line. However, the Pakistan Army tried to erect a structure very close to the border,” Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi said.
Karimi said that Taliban guards objected to the construction of a new border post, leading to Pakistani soldiers opening fire on the Islamist group’s fighters. He claimed that the Taliban fighters retaliated against the Pakistani Army, an encounter which led to casualties on both sides.
The fatal encounter between the Pakistani Army and the Taliban on Tuesday evening took place in the restive Kurram Agency in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan’s Paktia province.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media department of the Pakistani military, said the clashes left three soldiers dead.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that Afghan government will not allow conduct of such activities in the future,” the Army statement reads.
“As per credible intelligence reports, due to fire of own troops, terrorists suffered heavy casualties,” the ISPR statement added.
Islamabad’s statement didn’t mention that the shooting incident involved the Taliban border guards, as it referred to the other party as “terrorists.”
Ties between Pakistan and the Taliban government have remained complicated since the the group came to power in August 2021 on account of the border dispute, as well as the alleged presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP)** militants in Afghanistan.
The Taliban is currently also brokering a peace deal between Islamabad and the TTP, whose stated goal is to overthrow the Pakistani government.
Islamabad says that the attacks from TTP fighters, many of whom are based in Afghanistan, have continued in spite of the Taliban’s repeated commitments that it won’t allow its territory to be used as a launchpad by terror groups.
In April, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted airstrikes in Kunar and Khost provinces, leaving scores of people dead, in the wake of a cross-border terrorist strike by TTP fighters.
* The Taliban is under UN sanctions over terrorist activities
** Terrorist group banned in Russia