Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Clashes Continue as Moscow Format Talks End Without Joint Statement; Pakistan Declares Emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Fighting between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban along their border has continued since October 5, according to the Long War Journal. The eighth round of the Moscow Format consultations on Afghanistan, which ended on October 5, closed without a joint statement, with participants issuing separate statements instead. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari declared a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on October 11, suspending the provincial government, which federal officials attributed to a deteriorating security situation.
On the fighting, the Taliban's 203 Mansouri Corps said its forces exchanged light and heavy weapons fire with Pakistani troops in the Dand Patan district of Paktia province on October 10, claiming Pakistani forces fired first and that Taliban forces suffered no casualties. Radio Pakistan reported on October 11 that, according to ISPR, Pakistani forces had killed 12 Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban fighters the previous day in Kurram district, where militants were attempting to cross from Afghanistan, and that one Pakistani soldier was killed. Afghanistan's Khaama news agency reported clashes also in Aryob Zazi, with residents fleeing their homes.
At the root of the dispute is the roughly 2,600-kilometre Durand Line, drawn in the British colonial era and never recognized by any Afghan government. Pakistan accuses Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, which the Afghan Taliban denies. (GSM, following the Long War Journal)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴基斯坦与阿富汗边境托尔哈姆口岸阿富汗一侧入口资料照片。照片：美国陆军 Margaret Taylor 军士，Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。File photo: Afghanistan's entry point at the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan. Photo by Sgt. Margaret Taylor, U.S. Army, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
