It comes as some respite that the Pakistan Army on Wednesday categorically stated that the fencing at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will continue as planned. During a press conference held in Rawalpindi, the chief military spokesperson Major Gen Babar Iftikhar said that: “This is the fence for peace…work on it will continue and the fencing will be here to stay.” The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general’s assurance comes in the wake of reports of Taliban soldiers stopping Pakistani troops from fencing the border. The first incident of which was reported last month and the silence over the matter from the military leadership had led to speculations of a rift between Kabul and Islamabad. It must be noted that certain reports claimed that clashes between troops from the two sides over the fencing issue also took place.
Pakistan has so far fenced most of the 2,600km border to not only protect the country from any potential terror attacks launched from the Afghan soil but to also regulate trade between the two countries. Since the Afghanistan takeover by the Taliban, the threat of terror along the porous border has led to fear and panic in the country. Major Gen Babar too acknowledged during the media talk that the security situation along the Western border was “challenging” during 2021. It is then only important to ensure that the Pak-Afghan border fencing is completed at the earliest.
There is no denying the fact that what the world had previously feared with the fall of Kabul – threat of terrorism with militant outfits, such as, the Islamic State-Khorasan’s active role in that country – is increasingly becoming a reality. The lack of recognition by the West of the Taliban regime also makes the Afghan people vulnerable to the exploitation of militant outfits. In the wake of this, any semblance of tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan can benefit the ‘spoilers’ who may use the situation to further their nefarious interests. It is then important for the leadership of the two countries to pragmatically solve the issue through diplomatic channels. Kabul has time and again protested the fencing of the border as it claims that it splits families and tribes on either side. However, it must be told as the DG ISPR had stated that “the purpose of this [border] is not to divide the people, but to protect them.”
