Qureshi says Pak-Afghan border fencing issue to be resolved diplomatically

ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday revealed that officials were engaging with Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership through diplomatic channels to resolve confusions over border fencing.

Speaking at a presser in Islamabad, he said Islamabad was determined to protect its interests and continue fencing the border with Afghanistan.

His statements come after recent Taliban soldiers aimed at preventing Pakistan from building the barrier, the latest such incident over the weekend when the Afghan side dismantled a portion of the fence.

Qureshi said ‘we are not silent and we have installed the fence and, God willing, this effort will continue”. Adding that, “Afghanistan is our friendly neighbor and we are engaged with them, as some confusions have emerged, and we shall be able to resolve them through diplomatic channels.”

Earlier, a Taliban Defense Ministry spokesman slammed border fencing, saying they opposed barbed wire along the Durand Line and “separate the tribes on both sides of the line”, per reports.

The massive military-led construction effort started earlier in 2017 to block militant movement and smuggling. Pakistani officials claimed that more than 90 percent of the work has been completed.

In the previous regime in Kabul, the fencing project triggered fatal clashes between two sides at times.