Tensions at Chaman

There seem to have been more developments in the ongoing issues at the Chaman border. First we saw the unprovoked Afghan firing at census teams in Chaman last Friday, which killed at least eight civilians. And now Pakistan claims to have killed 50 Afghan soldiers and destroyed five of their checkposts in the fighting that ensued after the Afghan firing. Afghanistan has expectedly claimed that only two soldiers were killed and has disputed the version of events. This sabre-rattling from both countries has the potential to turn an already fraught situation even more dangerous. The ‘Friendship Gate’ at the Chaman border has been closed since the incident         on Friday and 15,000 people have already been displaced due to evacuations amidst fears of further conflict on the border. Afghanistan is still maintaining it did nothing wrong, claiming that the census teams crossed across the border and that Pakistani soldiers fired the first shot. It is difficult to take Afghanistan’s accusations at face value, especially since there is every possibility that its own definition of what counts as Afghan territory is very different from the internationally-recognised border. Afghanistan should have tried to defuse the situation by apologising and then working with Pakistan to institute better controls at the border. Instead it has allowed the problem to escalate to the point where it could end up hurting ties between the two countries.

Our relations with Afghanistan were hardly ideal to begin with, as President Ashraf Ghani had refused to visit Pakistan until the extradition of members of the Afghan Taliban suspected of living here. But there had been small signs of improvement, especially with the parliamentary and military delegations sent to Afghan, where both condoled with the government over the recent Taliban attack on an army base in Mazar-e-Sharif. Any chance of progress has now been scuppered as the two sides boast how many people they have supposedly killed from the other country. The two sides have at least agreed to conduct a joint geological survey of the border villages to “remove discrepancies” but it is difficult to see what this will achieve given Afghanistan’s official stance on the Durand Line. It is important to realise that whatever is happening on the border is part of a gross misunderstanding that needs to be corrected soon. The commander of the Frontier Corps in Quetta got it right when he premised the announcement by saying ‘we are not pleased to tell you’ that Afghan soldiers had been killed in retaliatory action. The indefinite closure of the Chaman border will only add more fuel to the fire since it will affect the movement of people and goods. It is difficult to see any chance of a breakthrough when both sides are so far apart.