The strikes by the Afghan army are, according to Mujahid’s statement, “a response to recent airstrikes by Pakistani forces in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktia.” According to the AP agency, Pakistan has not yet confirmed the information about strikes on its positions.
The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, known as the Durand Line, measures 2,611 kilometers. Afghanistan has never recognized it. He now claims to have occupied 15 Pakistani forward positions.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attáullah Tarar said on Sunday that the army attacked seven terrorist camps and hideouts of the Pakistani branch of the radical Islamist Taliban movement, known as the Tehrike Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and its affiliated groups. According to him, the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) was also the target of the strike.
According to the AP agency, Tarár said that the Pakistani army killed at least 70 militants. Afghanistan rejected his claim, saying that they were civilians, including women and children.
Pakistan blames TPP and IS for attacks on its territory. One of them was a suicide attack from the beginning of February, in which 40 people died in a mosque in Islamabad. It repeatedly urges the Taliban government in Afghanistan to prevent the use of its territory by terrorist groups for attacks in Pakistan. But Kabul did not take any significant steps against them, the Pakistani Ministry of Information said.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad escalated last October, when dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants were killed in border clashes. The truce mediated by Qatar and Turkey has been more or less observed until now, but the negotiations have not yet led to an official agreement.
