Afghanistan warns Pakistan over border incident
Iran Press TV
Mon May 6, 2013 3:36PM GMT
Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry has warned Pakistan against an escalation of violence along their contested border, hours after the two countries' border guards clashed for the second time in a week.
The warning comes after a new bout of fighting between the neighbors in a disputed border area near Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a strongly-worded statement on Monday that Pakistan will bear responsibility for the consequences of further clashes.
'[In case of] any further unprovoked attacks by Pakistani forces, Pakistan will bear responsibility for ... consequences,' the statement read.
Similar fighting in the same area left an Afghan soldier dead and two Pakistani border guards injured last Tuesday.
The two neighbors have accused each other of beginning the firing on the border.
Meanwhile, hundreds of angry Afghan protesters have held an anti-Pakistan rally in the capital Kabul to condemn the recent clashes. Afghan lawmakers have also responded by calling for an end to diplomatic ties with Islamabad.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been strained in recent months, especially over the delicate issue of the demarcation of their border.
The recent conflict focuses on a military gate which is partly built by Pakistan at a site that Afghan officials say is inside Nangarhar Province.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered his top officials to take immediate action to remove the gate and other Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line.
Pakistan recognizes the Durand Line, the 1893 British-mandated border between the two neighbors, but Afghanistan says that activity by either side along the Durand Line must be approved by both countries.
JR/SS
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