Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed on Monday to enhance coordination amongborder forces amid growing incidents of deadly cross-border shelling, anAfghan official said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mirwais Naab told a press conference in the Afghancapital Kabul that the neighbors also agreed to hasten efforts to completerailway links between them to promote bilateral and regional trade.
“Pakistan expressed full support for the Afghan-led peace process and thespeedy start of intra-Afghan peace talks,” he said after a meeting of theAfghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), abilateral dialogue mechanism.
After the meeting, a delegation from Pakistan led by foreign secretarySohail Mahmood met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar.
“The foreign minister stressed the need to end shelling on different partsof Afghanistan from across the Durand Line, halt the construction of’arbitrary’ facilities keep the crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistanopen,” the Foreign Ministry quoted Atmar as saying, while also thankingPakistan for hosting Afghan refugees.
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Last week, after a six-month closure, Afghanistan and Pakistan resumed thecross-border movement of passengers on the busy Chaman-Spinboldak crossingpoint.
The Pakistan-based Business Recorder daily reported on Aug. 21 that theBab-e-Dosti Gate (Friendship Gate) on the Chaman border would remain openfor seven days a week from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Months of closure on this key route due to the coronavirus pandemic led toprotests by travelers and traders and subsequent shelling by border troops,resulting in the deaths of at least 15 Afghan civilians earlier this month.
