9 killed in clashes on Afghan-Pakistani border

By Zabihullah Tamanna

KABUL

Border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani security forces killed at least eight Pakistani and an Afghan border guards on Wednesday. 

Afghan officials said the clashes overnight Tuesday came as Afghan forces prevented Pakistani forces from building new checkposts along the disputed Durand Line, the disputed de-facto border which was set by a 19th century colonial agreement. 

“Unfortunately, one Afghan frontier police was killed in the incident which took place in border locality of Angor Ada. Our initial reports indicate that Pakistani forces lost eight personnel,” interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters, adding that any development along the Durand Line requires the agreement of both countries. 

Pakistan asserts that the Durand Line is an international border but Afghanistan has continuously refused to recognize the boundary, which was the outcome of an agreement by an Afghan monarch and British colonial administrators. 

Despite recent efforts by Afghanistan and Pakistan to improve bilateral relations, the border dispute remains one of the main areas of contention, alongside mutual recriminations about the use of Taliban militants as proxies in each other's territory.