Af-Pak clashes have no easy solutions

The crux of the problem is that Pakistan fears the enhanced cooperation between India and Afghanistan through the flow of greater Indian humanitarian and developmental assistance.

- MAJ GEN JAGATBIR SINGH (RETD)

Intense clashes erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the night of 11 October, after an attack by Afghanistan on Pakistani military posts led to a heavy exchange of fire and reportedly left dozens of soldier's dead.

The attacks came after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes on Afghan territory, including in the capital, Kabul, earlier last week.

According to officials, Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani army posts along the North-Western border with Pakistan and seized several of the posts. The trigger was Pakistan's airstrikes in Kabul and on a marketplace in Eastern Afghanistan on 9 October, which Pakistan has not directly claimed responsibility for but has repeatedly stated that it has the right to defend itself against surging militancy that it says is planned from Afghan soil.

On 15 October reportedly, dozens of people were killed and wounded as fresh cross-border clashes erupted between Afghan and Pakistani in Pakistan's Chaman district and Afghanistan's Spin Boldak district. Reports claim that the Afghan Taliban forces have destroyed a Pakistan Army border outpost and seized a tank that was used by the Pakistani military to target Taliban posts.

What is significant is that the Pakistani airstrikes coincided with the first visit to India by a Taliban leader, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, which resulted in an announcement by India to upgrade relations. This visit has no doubt caused concern in Islamabad.