ISLAMABAD, April 18: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to set up a joint commission to resolve the territorial dispute that led to clashes between their border security forces near a village in North Waziristan on Wednesday night.
The proposal was made by the Pakistani side to immediately reduce the tension created between the two countries as a result of the border clash, informed sources in the Pakistani establishment told Dawn.
“Both sides have agreed in principle to form a Joint Commission to resolve the territorial dispute by demarcation of boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” a well-placed military source told Dawn, saying that such a course would lead to instant de-escalation of tension between the two countries.
Other defence sources also confirmed that the matter had been resolved between the US-Afghan National Army representatives and Pakistan’s FC commander on Thursday.
Sources said the proposed commission would be one of the agenda items to be discussed between the authorities here and President Hamid Karzai during his visit next week.
The clash between the Pakistan-Afghanistan security forces occurred when Afghan forces made their way into an area that Pakistani forces claimed fell in their territory. Reportedly the Afghan militia had been invited by some local tribesmen to discuss development schemes.
Investigations have revealed that while both sides insisted that the area they were in belonged to them, some individuals from the Pakistan side resorted to aerial firing. However, no one was hurt.
Sources in a key Pakistani security institution told Dawn that the Afghan forces had been given a “stern warning” against a repeat of Wednesday’s episode. “We have a picket in the disputed area which is manned by about half a dozen Pakistani militia,” sources said.
According to relevant government sources, around eleven men from the Afghan National Army crossed over into Pakistani territory. Of these three were Americans.
The US forces and the Afghan National Army work as an integrated team in the US-led anti-Al-Qaeda operation in Afghanistan.
Reports of the incident have suggested the ingress by the Afghan forces into what is considered a “hot area” was an attempt to gain information from the tribal people about Taliban and Al-Qaeda men.
They suspect that the Afghan forces along with the three US army personnel had gone there on the pretext of discussing development projects to actually entice the locals with US dollars to obtain information about the whereabouts and movement of Taliban and Al Qaeda men in the area.
