Afghan Taliban to seek ‘diplomatic’ solution to Pakistan border fencing row

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban said on Tuesday evening they would seek to resolve through “diplomatic channels” problems related to the erecting of a security fence by Pakistan along the border between the two countries.
Pakistan has fenced most of the 2,600 km border despite protests from Kabul, which has always contested the British-era boundary demarcation that splits families and tribes on either side.
Multiple incidents have occurred in recent weeks, with Taliban soldiers trying to remove the fence.
“Recently a few of incidents have taken place along Durand line between Afghanistan and Pakistan that have given rise to the need for authorities of the two sides to address the problem,” Taliban foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a series of tweets.
“IEA believing in addressing problems through understanding, talks and good neighborliness, will address this issue through diplomatic channels.”
On Monday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi vowed that Islamabad would continue to fence the border.
“We had installed fence on the Pak-Afghan border and our effort will continue,” he said. “Afghanistan is our friend and neighboring country, we have engagement with them. We will overcome the problems which have been witnessed through diplomatic channels with them.”
The fencing was a main reason behind the souring of relations between Afghanistan’s previous Western-backed governments and Islamabad.
The mountainous border was historically fluid before Pakistan began erecting a metal fence four years ago, of which it has completed 90 percent.

Afghan Taliban to seek ‘diplomatic’ solution to Pakistan border fencing row