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Afghan, Pakistani Forces Clash - WSJ.com
KABULAfghan troops destroyed parts of a controversial border outpost recently built by Pakistan, Afghan officials said, pushing Pakistani forces from the area following a heavy exchange of fire that caused casualties and escalated tensions between the two uneasy neighbors.
An Afghan Border Police officer was killed and three others were injured in the clash, in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. While Afghan border police said nine Pakistani troops were killed or injured, the Pakistani military confirmed only two injuries among the Pakistani security personnel.
The overnight battle between the U.S.-advised Afghan security forces and troops from nuclear-armed Pakistan brings a dangerous new complication to American efforts to wind down the Afghan war. It comes as the U.S. is beginning to ship its military gear through Pakistani ports, preparing for the withdrawal of most U.S. forces at the end of next year.
The worst clash between Afghan and Pakistani forces in more than a decade erupted just a week after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Brussels for talks that sought to both improve relations between the two countries and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
The fighting sparked a furious reaction in Afghanistan on Thursday, with thousands of Afghans chanting slogans against Pakistan as they carried the body of the killed border policeman, Mohammed Qassim Khan, through the streets of Nangarhar's capital city of Jalalabad. Comments calling for war against Pakistan were posted on Afghan social-media sites, with many users changing their profile pictures to those of Afghan border troops.
Afghan Border Police spokesman Idris Momand said the Afghan forces, which held the disputed border outpost for several hours, retreated to their previous positions later Thursday as regular Afghan National Army units rushed to the area to reinforce it.
The fighting in Goshta followed weeks of complaints from Kabul about the new border outposts, which were erected in recent months by Pakistan. The British-drawn boundary between the two countries is disputed by Afghanistan, which doesn't recognize as an international frontier the so-called Durand Line that cuts through the ethnic Pashtun heartland. The line isn't properly demarcated, and while the Pakistani government says the new fortifications are on its side of the border, Afghan officials claim they are as much as 30 km inside Afghan territory. U.S. military maps show the disputed outposts within Afghanistan, officials say.
On Wednesday, the Afghan Border Police unit deployed on the Goshta border noticed that the Pakistani forces had begun additional work on fortifying their outpost, despite recent agreements to suspend such construction, Afghan officials said. A protest made by an Afghan commander on the scene to Pakistani commanders led to a dispute, which was followed by gunfire from Pakistani troops, they said. At about 9 p.m., Pakistani forces began shelling the Afghan positions, the officials said.
While there has been repeated Pakistani shelling in the remote areas of Kunar and Nuristan province in recent years, such cross-border firing is new to Goshta. The Afghan forces responded with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, destroying three Pakistani compounds and two watchtowers, and forced the Pakistani troops to retreat from the area at about 2 a.m., an Afghan official said.
Pakistani officials challenged this account. A Pakistani military official said the Afghans started firing on the Pakistani position in the Mohmand agency on Wednesday, injuring two security personnel. "Pakistan retaliated by counter-fire," he said, declining to provide any other details.
U.S. Army Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, also declined to provide details on the fighting in Goshta. "We are aware of the developments and are in contact with both sides to determine what happened," he said.
Keeping the Afghan-Pakistani border open is crucial for U.S. plans to remove its military equipment from Afghanistan as the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops withdraw from the country.
Pakistani military analyst Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant-general, said he doubted the clash would lead to the border's closure, as it would be "mutually harmful."
Habib Khan Totakhil in Kabul and Annabel Symington in Islamabad contributed to this article.
KABULAfghan troops destroyed parts of a controversial border outpost recently built by Pakistan, Afghan officials said, pushing Pakistani forces from the area following a heavy exchange of fire that caused casualties and escalated tensions between the two uneasy neighbors.
An Afghan Border Police officer was killed and three others were injured in the clash, in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. While Afghan border police said nine Pakistani troops were killed or injured, the Pakistani military confirmed only two injuries among the Pakistani security personnel.
The overnight battle between the U.S.-advised Afghan security forces and troops from nuclear-armed Pakistan brings a dangerous new complication to American efforts to wind down the Afghan war. It comes as the U.S. is beginning to ship its military gear through Pakistani ports, preparing for the withdrawal of most U.S. forces at the end of next year.
The worst clash between Afghan and Pakistani forces in more than a decade erupted just a week after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Brussels for talks that sought to both improve relations between the two countries and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
The fighting sparked a furious reaction in Afghanistan on Thursday, with thousands of Afghans chanting slogans against Pakistan as they carried the body of the killed border policeman, Mohammed Qassim Khan, through the streets of Nangarhar's capital city of Jalalabad. Comments calling for war against Pakistan were posted on Afghan social-media sites, with many users changing their profile pictures to those of Afghan border troops.
Afghan Border Police spokesman Idris Momand said the Afghan forces, which held the disputed border outpost for several hours, retreated to their previous positions later Thursday as regular Afghan National Army units rushed to the area to reinforce it.
The fighting in Goshta followed weeks of complaints from Kabul about the new border outposts, which were erected in recent months by Pakistan. The British-drawn boundary between the two countries is disputed by Afghanistan, which doesn't recognize as an international frontier the so-called Durand Line that cuts through the ethnic Pashtun heartland. The line isn't properly demarcated, and while the Pakistani government says the new fortifications are on its side of the border, Afghan officials claim they are as much as 30 km inside Afghan territory. U.S. military maps show the disputed outposts within Afghanistan, officials say.
On Wednesday, the Afghan Border Police unit deployed on the Goshta border noticed that the Pakistani forces had begun additional work on fortifying their outpost, despite recent agreements to suspend such construction, Afghan officials said. A protest made by an Afghan commander on the scene to Pakistani commanders led to a dispute, which was followed by gunfire from Pakistani troops, they said. At about 9 p.m., Pakistani forces began shelling the Afghan positions, the officials said.
While there has been repeated Pakistani shelling in the remote areas of Kunar and Nuristan province in recent years, such cross-border firing is new to Goshta. The Afghan forces responded with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, destroying three Pakistani compounds and two watchtowers, and forced the Pakistani troops to retreat from the area at about 2 a.m., an Afghan official said.
Pakistani officials challenged this account. A Pakistani military official said the Afghans started firing on the Pakistani position in the Mohmand agency on Wednesday, injuring two security personnel. "Pakistan retaliated by counter-fire," he said, declining to provide any other details.
U.S. Army Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, also declined to provide details on the fighting in Goshta. "We are aware of the developments and are in contact with both sides to determine what happened," he said.
Keeping the Afghan-Pakistani border open is crucial for U.S. plans to remove its military equipment from Afghanistan as the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops withdraw from the country.
Pakistani military analyst Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant-general, said he doubted the clash would lead to the border's closure, as it would be "mutually harmful."
Habib Khan Totakhil in Kabul and Annabel Symington in Islamabad contributed to this article.
