TENSION AT THE AFGHAN BORDER

With the every passing day, tension is mounting on the Afghan border as Kabul deployed thousands of additional troops in Nangarhar Province following the allegations the Pakistani security forces are constantly shelling the civilian population causing death and destruction. Pakistan had denied the charge of any incursion on Afghan territory and instead blamed Kabul for sheltering Pakistani Taliban carrying out incursions and killing security forces in deadly raids while the Afghan and ISAF forces are not taking any action. Tension had increased following the allegations from the Nangarhar Provincial Governor accusing Pakistan of constantly shelling and bombing the Afghan territories causing death of civilians and destruction to the property. He threatened Afghan retaliation bombing and shelling the Pakistani territory if the Pakistani shelling did not stop. The Provincial Governor Gul Agha claimed that he had informed the Afghan President about the shelling on Afghan territories by the Pakistani security forces and apprised him about the extent of damage and its deadly effects on the civilian population. He had also taken up the issue with the Pakistani diplomats based in Jalalabad Consulate and registered his protest over the shelling. In any case, the claim made by the Provincial Governor is one side of the picture and he did not mention that the free hand given to the Pakistani Taliban by the Afghan Government and Afghan National Army to carry out incursions on the Pakistani territories, attack the security forces and the installations and killing dozens of soldiers in many raids. Some of the Pakistani soldiers were slaughtered and beheaded and the Afghan Government took no notice to the brutal killings on the border regions. It is in the interest of peace and stability in the area that the Afghan Government should check the military incursions of the Pakistani Taliban who took refuge in the border regions after they were dislodged and chased away from Swat and Dir. The ISAF should play a role in this regard as the Pakistani Army Chief had taken up the issue with the ISAF Commanders during their bilateral meetings. The issue was also raised at the trilateral security meeting in the border region in which commanders from Pakistan, Afghanistan and ISAF also participated and there was no progress on this issue. In the backdrop of these facts, the threat to use force by the Afghan Provincial Governor is totally misplaced. It is unfortunate that the Afghan Government had deployed thousands of troops on the Pakistan-Afghan border region to carry out military incursions and attack civilian targets inside Pakistan. It will further heighten tension between the two neighbours.