Afghan Taliban prevent Pakistan army from fencing border
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi says they are investigating the incident
Afghan Taliban fighters disrupted the building of a security fence by Pakistan's military along the border between the two countries, Afghan officials said Wednesday.
Pakistan fenced most of the 1,615 mile border, despite protests from Kabul, which always contested the British-era boundary demarcation.
Afghan defense ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi said Taliban forces stopped the Pakistani military from erecting an "illegal" border fence along the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday, according to Reuters.
The Pakistan army did not respond to a request for comment.
A video circulated on social media showed Taliban soldiers seizing spools of barbed wire and a senior official warning Pakistani soldiers not to try to fence the border again.
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Taliban and Pakistani forces came face-to-face over the border incident, two Taliban officials told Reuters on the condition of anonymity, and the situation was tense.
They added that following the incident there was cross border mortar fire from Pakistani territory further north along the frontier into Afghanistan's Kunar province on Wednesday.
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said they were investigating the incident.
The border between the two countries, known as the Durand Line, was historically fluid until Pakistan began constructing a metal fence four years ago. So far, 90 percent is complete.
The incident happened the day foreign delegates from around the world gathered in Islamabad for a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.