What happened? Taliban and Pakistani forces had been engaged in a gun battle at the Torkhram Border crossing in eastern Afghanistan on Monday morning.
Go deeper: According to various reports, the two sides engaged in heavy and light gunfight for an hour. The Pakistani side has confirmed the injury of one of its force member, but the Taliban haven’t reacted to the clashes.
- According to Islamabad, the gunfight started after the Taliban forces opened fire at a Pakistani outpost in the border region.
- The gunfight has been reported a day after the Taliban closed the Torkham border crossing.
- On Sunday, Mohammad Sadiq the Taliban representative for Torkham border, announced that the Pakistani side didn’t adhere to its commitments and that’s why the border crossing has been closed.
- He didn’t explain what commitments have not been fulfilled by Pakistan.
- The Taliban official asked Afghans to avoid travelling through the Torkham border.
Take note: The Taliban and Pakistani forces engaged in a gunfight and the group closed the Torkham border crossing, while the Pakistani foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, defended the group firmly at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) and said that there is no resistance against the Taliban.
- Zardari said that Islamic State – Khurasan (IS-K) is the only force that poses a threat to the security of Afghanistan and other countries.
- The biggest threat to the Taliban is Islamic State – Khurasan (IS-K).
- The Taliban welcomed the remarks of the Pakistan foreign minister, but said rejected his remarks about terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.
Zoom out: Earlier too, there had been clashes between the Pakistan Border Police and Taliban forces, and as a result of which an Afghan citizen had been killed and a Pakistani officer had been wounded.
- Before that, the Taliban forces and the Pakistani military had a military confrontation on the border of Torkham and Spin Boldak.
