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Pakistan closes border with Afghanistan after clashes

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Pakistan has reportedly called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to hand over a border guard who is suspected of killing a Pakistani Frontier Corps guard at the Spin-Chaman crossing earlier this week.

Pakistan has accused an IEA border guard of crossing over the border and opening fire on Frontier Corps members, killing one and wound two others.

VOA reported that a senior Chaman administration official told VOA by phone that the border crossing was briefly opened late Monday afternoon to allow stranded Afghan and Pakistani pedestrians to return to their native countries, but no trade convoys were permitted to move in either direction.

“The border terminal has now been indefinitely closed for trade and all other movements. It will not be opened until the handing over of the assailant responsible for the martyrdom of the Pakistani soldier,” Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed Zehri told VOA.

Zehri said Pakistan’s attempts to seek a negotiated settlement to the issue failed to produce an outcome, but there were no clashes on Monday.

The Spin Boldak and the northwestern Torkham border crossings serve as the main trade routes for landlocked Afghanistan for bilateral and transit trade with and through Pakistan.

Residents and traders said Monday scores of trucks transporting Afghan transit trade goods and bilateral shipments were stranded on both sides of the border after Pakistan closed the Chaman crossing.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has warned that Afghan immigrants who are waiting in Pakistan to relocate to other countries and whose visas have expired will be arrested and imprisoned for three years.

But a member of Pakistan’s parliament strongly criticizes the treatment of the Pakistani police with Afghan immigrants.

“It is extremely unfortunate that we do not have any policy for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. They are mistreated. The federal government has to devise a policy to protect their rights,” said Mohsin Dawar, a member of the Parliament of Pakistan.

He further added that: “Our government does not have any kind of policy on how to deal with Afghan immigrants in Pakistan, and including the government of Pakistan, UNHCR and the whole world have remained silent against this wrong treatment.”

On the other hand, the local authorities of Kandahar say that the talks between the Afghan and Pakistani authorities have also started regarding the reopening of the Spin Boldak-Chaman crossing.

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Afghanistan carries out retaliatory attack against Pakistan

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The Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday it has attacked "centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters" across the Durand Line.

"Several points across the hypothetical line including centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters from where attacks were organized in Afghanistan were attacked in revenge from the southeast of the country," the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, sources said that retaliatory attacks across the Durand Line began last night from Alisher district of Khost province and Dand Patan district of Paktia province and continued until morning.

According to sources, light and heavy weapons were used in the clashes.

Earlier, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Paktika's Barmal district on Tuesday, killing and wounding dozens of people.

The Ministry of National Defense of Afghanistan had warned that the attacks would not go unanswered.

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Syria is ‘more strategically important’ to US than Afghanistan: Khalilzad

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Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US envoy for Afghanistan peace, said that he had urged senior officials in the Joe Biden administration to take a more active approach toward Syria.

According to a report by the New York Times published on Friday, Khalilzad said the Biden administration made a mistake by refraining from having more direct contact with the Islamic Emirate after it came to power in 2021.

He said the recent meeting of the US delegation with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian ruler, in Damascus was a positive step.

“Not that prematurely engaging doesn’t have risks,” Khalilzad said. “But I think there is an element of timing, of shaping things.” He added that Syria is “more strategically important” to the United States than Afghanistan, making the task more urgent.

Meanwhile, Khalilzad on Friday reiterated that the Doha Agreement states that a new government in Afghanistan would be determined by negotiations and dialogue between the IEA and other Afghan sides.

"The Doha Agreement did not define the nature of Afghan political systam, but it clearly stated that a new government would be determined by negotiations and dialogue between the Taliban and other Afghan sides," Khalilzad said on X. "The challenge for Afghans, Taliban and others, is how to deliver on this commitment, given current realities."

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Pakistan’s forced repatriation of Afghan refugees has fueled hatred: Imran Khan

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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the forced deportation of Afghan refugees, which was intended to reduce terrorism, has actually created hatred that is detrimental to regional peace.

Speaking to reporters in Adiala Jail, Khan criticized Pakistan's recent airstrikes on Afghanistan and said that this is the second time Pakistan is bombing Afghanistan.

He also criticized that Bilawal Bhutto did not visit Afghanistan even once when he was the Pakistani foreign minister, while this should have been a priority.

Imran Khan recalled that he had told the then Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa not to replace the head of the intelligence agency, General Faiz Hamid, because the situation in Afghanistan would be very different after the withdrawal of American forces, but he did not accept this only to extend his term, which led to an increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

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