Afghanistan reports that a member of its security forces is killed and two wounded in clashes overnight at Torkham crossing. One has been killed as Pakistani and Afghan security forces exchanged fire at the newly shut main border crossing between the two nations.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs on Monday confirmed that a single member of its security personnel was killed and two wounded during overnight fighting at the Torkham crossing, an important transit point that was shut by Pakistan last month in protest over its neighbor building a new border outpost.
Two Pakistani security officials who wished not to be identified by name reported to the news agency Reuters that their security men had been injured in the fight. The clashes broke out on the first working day of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan when imports of food from Pakistan tend to peak in Afghanistan. The fighting left approximately 5,000 trucks laden with basic items stranded on either side of the border in tough winter weather.
The fighting may heighten the trouble facing the war-torn Afghan economy when millions of citizens face the threat of starvation and roughly half the country requires humanitarian support to stay alive, the United Nations said. Both nations in the past shut down Torkham and the southwestern Chaman border crossing after fatal shootings and crossfire.
Pakistan claimed to be attacked from Afghan territory – a claim denied by the Taliban government. Last December, Pakistani warplanes made strikes that killed dozens of individuals on Afghan land.
