Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday resolved their row over a border gate in Mohmand Agency, with Kabul dropping its objections after it was told that no new military construction was being carried out by Islamabad along the shared frontier and it was only a renovation of an old gate.
A delegation of Afghan army officials, headed by Afghan National Army Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Major General Afzal Aman, visited General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi and met Pakistan Army Director General Military Operations Ashfaq Nadeem Ahmed for talks on border coordination.
“The meeting was held in a cordial environment. All ongoing cross-border coordination issues including border post construction in Mohmand Agency were discussed and amicably resolved. Both sides agreed on continuation of such bilateral interactions to enhance bilateral border coordination and reduce space for detractors,” a military spokesman said.
A Pakistani official said the border gate in Mohmand Agency near the Afghan border was well inside Pakistan’s territory and he also dispelled the impression created by Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai, that it was a new military construction on part of Islamabad.
“We told Afghan authorities in advance under the border SOP that a renovation of an old border gate would be carried out and that was not something against the border agreement between Islamabad and Kabul. Unfortunately, they (Afghan officials) made an issue out of that and it was played up in media,” he said, seeking anonymity.
He said the Afghan military delegation was briefed with help of maps that the border gate was inside the Pakistani region and their objections against it were baseless.
“The Afghan officials were also told that there was proper border control mechanism under which such issues could be settled and there was no need of creating media hype,” he said.
The official said the issue stood resolved and Pakistani border gate would not be removed as it had been there for years, adding that Afghan authorities had rather dropped their objections.
Earlier, Afghan Defense Ministry Spokesman General Zahir Azimi told reporters at a joint press conference in Kabul that the recent construction of a gate and other facilities along the border took place without any coordination with Afghanistan.
President Karzai also reportedly ordered his Defense and Interior ministries to take immediate action to remove a newly constructed gate, checkpoints and other installations recently built by Pakistan along the border near the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Pakistani official said Afghan border forces had earlier renovated three of their gates near the Pakistani border alongside the province of Balochistan, but Pakistan did not make it an issue or controversy.
“However, contrarily, the Afghan officials tried to create controversy over the renovation of one gate, which was against the spirit of bilateral border agreement,” he said. He hoped that in the future, such disputes or issues would be settled by Afghan officials through the border control mechanism.