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The people and the governments of Afghanistan had never accepted the Durand Line as an international border since it was drawn in 1893: Afghanistan
KABUL: The Afghan government on Wednesday said it would not allow Pakistan to fence the Durand Line and would hold talks on the issue soon with Islamabad.
In a video clip sent to Pajhwok Afghan News, the deputy presidential spokesman, Najib Azad, said the people and the governments of Afghanistan had never accepted the Durand Line as an international border since it was drawn in 1893.
The Pakistani army on Tuesday announced it had started fencing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border starting with three tribal agencies on its side.
In a statement, Pakistan army’s military wing said the fencing was being carried out in two phases along the 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) border.
Border guards of the two countries clashed over an installation at the Torkham border crossing in June last year and again clashed at the Spin Boldak border crossing in May.
The deputy presidential spokesman said the European Parliament had recently said the Europe in general and the British in particular had committed a mistake by dividing one tribe into two parts and the mistake should be corrected.
“Pakistan wants to show it is curbing terrorism by fencing the border. Pakistan, Afghanistan and the entire world know where the terrorists are. If Pakistan is sincere in the war against terrorism, it should stand with Afghanistan and take action and deny safe havens to terrorists,” Azad said.
He said the Pakistani forces had previously also faced resistance from the people and the government of Afghanistan over the border fencing and they would again face the same if they continued the project. He said the government would soon initiate talks with the Pakistani side about the border fencing.
