Tweet
A very interesting development:
Clash on Pakistan Border Stirs Afghan Emotions
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: May 2, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan forces claimed they overran a Pakistani-held border crossing in a remote area on Thursday -- an event that provoked a spontaneous outpouring of nationalist sentiment here, sending thousands of students into the streets in demonstrations, and sparking lively debate on social network sites.
More than a thousand students turned out for the funeral of an Afghan border policeman who was the only confirmed victim of the clash, Qasim Khan. An ambulance pressed into service as a hearse to carry his body from Jalalabad to his home village in rural Nangarhar Province was strewn with flowers, and mourners were celebratory in declaring a victory over Pakistan. Hundreds of miles away in Gardez city, Paktia province, Mr. Khan was hailed as a national hero by crowds of students who marched through the center of the city beating drums and chanting anti-Pakistani slogans.
A spokesman for the Afghan Border Police unit in eastern Nangarhar Province said that force’s troops took back five Afghan police posts that had been occupied by Pakistani forces in the Goshta District in fighting that began Wednesday night and finished early Thursday morning. They also burned a border crossing post in the area which Pakistan had allegedly built without Afghan approval. The crossing was one of several that President Hamid Karzai had publicly complained about last month.
The border police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with his agency’s policy, said there were unconfirmed reports that nine Pakistani militiamen were killed in the clash.
However, Pakistani government officials said only two of their security personnel were wounded in a cross-fire and there were no reports of border facilities changing hands. And an Afghan member of parliament from Goshta district, Friadon Momand, said his information was that the border crossing had not been destroyed and was still operating.
Whatever actually happened, the incident aroused an unusual degree of reaction especially among young Afghans, which contrasts sharply with their apathy over actions by their army and police in clashes with Afghan insurgents.
“An Afghan Border Police officer died last night fighting Pakistanis, Afghans enraged and showed emotions. But now Eight Afghan Local Policemen killed by (Sons of Pakistan) Taliban, all will remain silent,” read a Facebook post attributed to Sohrab Sharifi.
Mr. Sharifi was referring to reports that eight Afghan Local Police were killed by a roadside bomb that blew up as they passed in a truck in Pashtunabad village, Logar Province on Thursday morning.
Abdul Wali Wakil, the chairman of the Logar Provincial Council, said that the local police had just graduated from a training program run by American Special Forces soldiers, and had just been brought by the American troops to their assignment in the area.
“I have personally warned the provincial governor and provincial police chief about the potential threat in the area, but they ignored my advice,” he said.
The border clash in Nangarhar Province comes after months of complaints by Afghan authorities over cross-border shelling, and control of their common border. In addition, Afghan political leaders, including President Hamid Karzai, have greatly stepped up their anti-Pakistani rhetoric lately, blaming their neighbor for supporting insurgents and hindering efforts at peace talks.
“We should put the name of this Afghan Border Police officer killed last night in the list of Afghanistan’s national heroes,” said Liaqat Khan, a medical student who went to the funeral in Jalalabad. The students at the funeral, who organized the protest themselves, complained that national and high-ranking provincial officials were absent. They had signs reading “Long Live Afghan forces,” and “Death to Pakistan.”
On Facebook and Twitter, many Afghans called for further demonstrations after Friday prayers.
The border clash came a day after the reopening of the major crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, at Torkhum on the Grand Trunk Road between Kabul and Peshawar. It had been closed for two days after a fistfight between Afghan and Pakistani border guards over the Pakistanis’ refusal to let an Afghan woman enter without a visa.
Pakistan closed the crossing for two days until the Afghans apologized for the incident. According to Col. Enayatullah Abdullah, an Afghan Border Police official at Torkhum, four Afghan patients died waiting at the crossing to go to hospitals in Pakistan.
President Karzai has repeatedly raised the long-festering issue of the Durand Line, which forms the border between the two countries, and was established by the British in the early 1900s. The line divides traditionally Pashtun tribal areas on both sides of the border; Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic grouping, and they predominate among the Taliban insurgents.
An Afghan employee of The New York Times in Jalalabad and Salman Masood in Islamabad contributed reporting.
Clash on Pakistan Border Stirs Afghan Emotions
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: May 2, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan forces claimed they overran a Pakistani-held border crossing in a remote area on Thursday -- an event that provoked a spontaneous outpouring of nationalist sentiment here, sending thousands of students into the streets in demonstrations, and sparking lively debate on social network sites.
More than a thousand students turned out for the funeral of an Afghan border policeman who was the only confirmed victim of the clash, Qasim Khan. An ambulance pressed into service as a hearse to carry his body from Jalalabad to his home village in rural Nangarhar Province was strewn with flowers, and mourners were celebratory in declaring a victory over Pakistan. Hundreds of miles away in Gardez city, Paktia province, Mr. Khan was hailed as a national hero by crowds of students who marched through the center of the city beating drums and chanting anti-Pakistani slogans.
A spokesman for the Afghan Border Police unit in eastern Nangarhar Province said that force’s troops took back five Afghan police posts that had been occupied by Pakistani forces in the Goshta District in fighting that began Wednesday night and finished early Thursday morning. They also burned a border crossing post in the area which Pakistan had allegedly built without Afghan approval. The crossing was one of several that President Hamid Karzai had publicly complained about last month.
The border police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with his agency’s policy, said there were unconfirmed reports that nine Pakistani militiamen were killed in the clash.
However, Pakistani government officials said only two of their security personnel were wounded in a cross-fire and there were no reports of border facilities changing hands. And an Afghan member of parliament from Goshta district, Friadon Momand, said his information was that the border crossing had not been destroyed and was still operating.
Whatever actually happened, the incident aroused an unusual degree of reaction especially among young Afghans, which contrasts sharply with their apathy over actions by their army and police in clashes with Afghan insurgents.
“An Afghan Border Police officer died last night fighting Pakistanis, Afghans enraged and showed emotions. But now Eight Afghan Local Policemen killed by (Sons of Pakistan) Taliban, all will remain silent,” read a Facebook post attributed to Sohrab Sharifi.
Mr. Sharifi was referring to reports that eight Afghan Local Police were killed by a roadside bomb that blew up as they passed in a truck in Pashtunabad village, Logar Province on Thursday morning.
Abdul Wali Wakil, the chairman of the Logar Provincial Council, said that the local police had just graduated from a training program run by American Special Forces soldiers, and had just been brought by the American troops to their assignment in the area.
“I have personally warned the provincial governor and provincial police chief about the potential threat in the area, but they ignored my advice,” he said.
The border clash in Nangarhar Province comes after months of complaints by Afghan authorities over cross-border shelling, and control of their common border. In addition, Afghan political leaders, including President Hamid Karzai, have greatly stepped up their anti-Pakistani rhetoric lately, blaming their neighbor for supporting insurgents and hindering efforts at peace talks.
“We should put the name of this Afghan Border Police officer killed last night in the list of Afghanistan’s national heroes,” said Liaqat Khan, a medical student who went to the funeral in Jalalabad. The students at the funeral, who organized the protest themselves, complained that national and high-ranking provincial officials were absent. They had signs reading “Long Live Afghan forces,” and “Death to Pakistan.”
On Facebook and Twitter, many Afghans called for further demonstrations after Friday prayers.
The border clash came a day after the reopening of the major crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, at Torkhum on the Grand Trunk Road between Kabul and Peshawar. It had been closed for two days after a fistfight between Afghan and Pakistani border guards over the Pakistanis’ refusal to let an Afghan woman enter without a visa.
Pakistan closed the crossing for two days until the Afghans apologized for the incident. According to Col. Enayatullah Abdullah, an Afghan Border Police official at Torkhum, four Afghan patients died waiting at the crossing to go to hospitals in Pakistan.
President Karzai has repeatedly raised the long-festering issue of the Durand Line, which forms the border between the two countries, and was established by the British in the early 1900s. The line divides traditionally Pashtun tribal areas on both sides of the border; Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic grouping, and they predominate among the Taliban insurgents.
An Afghan employee of The New York Times in Jalalabad and Salman Masood in Islamabad contributed reporting.
Comment