Pakistan and Afghanistan trade fire along the border but no casualties are reported

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani troops and Afghan forces exchanged fire late on Friday along the two countries’ tense border but no casualties or damage were reported. Each side blamed the other for triggering the clash in violation of a fragile ceasefire in place for the past two months.

Negotiations between Kabul and Islamabad aimed at easing border tensions and upholding the truce broke down in November but the cesefire — brokered by Qatar in October — has mostly held.

The exchange came a day after Pakistan said it would allow the United Nations to send relief supplies into Afghanistan through the Chaman and Torkham border crossings, which have been mostly closed for nearly two months amid escalating tensions.

Mohammad Sadiq, a local Pakistani police official, claimed the shooting started from the Afghan side and that Pakistani troops returned fire near the Chaman border crossing, a key transit route.

In Kabul, the spokesman for the Afghan Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, accused Pakistan of initiating the exchange.

“Unfortunately, this evening, the Pakistani side once again launched attacks on Afghanistan in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar, forcing the forces of the Islamic Emirate to respond,” Mujahid wrote on X. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban refer to their administration as the Islamic Emirate.

Abidullah Farooqi, a spokesman for the Afghan border police, said the Pakistani forces first lobbed a hand grenade into the Spin Boldak border area on the Afghan side, prompting a response. He said Afghanistan remains committed to the ceasefire.

Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that earlier in the evening, the “Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing along the Chaman border.” He added that Pakistani forces remain fully alert and committed to ensuring the country’s territorial integrity and the safety of its citizens.

Tensions spiked after deadly border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants, and wounded hundreds more on both sides. The violence erupted after explosions in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Oct. 9 that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan and vowed to avenge.

The fighting was the worst between the neighbors in recent years. The Qatar-mediated ceasefire eased the tensions somewhat but subsequent peace talks in Istanbul failed to produce an agreement.

Pakistan has blamed most of the militant attacks inside the country on the Pakistani Taliban — also known are Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. Though separate from the Afghan Taliban, the TTP is closely allied with it, and many of its fighters are believed to have taken refuge in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power there in 2021, further straining relations.

___

Afghan reported from Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this story.