On 28 December the Afghanistan Taliban, announced that it had attacked several military posts in the neighbouring Pakistan, days after Pakistan had conducted airstrikes to carry out aerial bombardment inside Afghanistan.
The statement from the Afghan Defence Ministry did not mention Pakistan, but it said the strikes were conducted “beyond the ‘hypothetical line'” – a term used by Afghan authorities to refer to a long disputed border with Pakistan. Afghanistan has always rejected the Durand Line dividing the two nations which it believes was unilaterally drawn by colonial power Britain in the 19th century.
The statement said, “Several points beyond the hypothetical line, serving as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organised and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan, were targeted in retaliation from the southeastern direction of the country.”
When asked by a reporter whether the statement referred to Pakistan, ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khowarazmi said, “We do not consider it to be the territory of Pakistan. Therefore, we cannot confirm the territory, but it was on the other side of the hypothetical line.”
Reports from open sources highlight that the Taliban has started a massive deployment of Taliban fighters near the border region. Some sources even pointed out that they are already inside the Durand Line. If this is the current situation, a possible war can be expected in South Asia between these two Muslim neighbouring nations.
From the Pakistan side, no statements have yet been released. When requested, the Pakistani military’s public relations wing and a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The exact number of causalities is unknown. But an anonymous source told the AFP news agency today that at least one Pakistani paramilitary soldier was killed and seven others wounded in the clash between two neighbouring forces.
The retaliation from Afghanistan came after Pakistan bombarded the Border region of Afghanistan, citing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan errorists hideout. According to Afghanistan officials, the airstrike killed 46 people, mostly women and children.
Before August 2020, Pakistan, as usual, shared cordial relations with the Afghanistan Taliban (then a recognized terrorist organization). However, the relation strained in previous years due to the alleged sheltering of TTP terrorists by Afghanistan. Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of providing a safe haven for TTP terrorists, which has killed several military personnel of Pakistan near the border region, especially in the Waziristan region.
Afghanistan vowed to take revenge in their statement the following day. However, experts expected that the response would either be delayed or come from TTP. However, Afghanistan falsified all the speculations by attacking Pakistani military posts and deploying the Taliban massively near the border.
Sporadic clashes, including with heavy weaponry, erupted overnight between border forces on the frontier between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan and Khost province in Afghanistan, officials from both countries said. The situation has escalated for now in the western part of South Asia, and anything can happen anytime.
