Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan are always high, but they seem to have gotten dramatically worse overnight, when a multi-hour gunbattle broke out between Afghan border police and the Pakistani military, leaving one of the police killed and two soldiers wounded.
The incident occurred in Ningarhar at the Gursal border gate. This has been a source of tensions for a month, with Afghan forces accusing Pakistan’s military of illegally constructing a new border post without informing them.
Since the post was already a thing, just shuttered for years, Pakistani officials claimed it was “renovation” and not really a new post, but this prompted an Afghan deployment nearby. Now, after the gunbattle, Afghanistan is sending hundreds of troops to the area.
The area sees a lot of militant traffic, and both sides are constantly trying to simultaneously do something about militant infiltration without sparking a new clash with their neighbors. Needless to say, today proves that they’re not being very successful in that regard.
Both sides are now saying they hope the incident is over, but they’re also both insisting it is totally the other side’s fault, with Pakistan saying the police attacked their checkpoint, and the Afghan government saying the trouble was caused by attempted fortification of the checkpoint, and that the killing was “unprovoked.”