Dawn.comMay 21, 2016

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Pak-Afghan security officials at Angoor Ada border crossing. —Photo ISPR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan army on Saturday handed over a purpose-built border crossing facility at Angoor Ada to Afghan authorities, the military’s media wing said.

“With aim to strengthen brotherly relations with Afghanistan besides strategic intent to improve border management, the border-crossing facility was handed over to Afghan authorities at Angoor Ada, a buffering town,” the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Asim Bajwa, tweeted.

The military’s spokesperson said “this gesture will act as a catalyst and is envisioned to bring momentum for establishing peace and stability along Pak-Afghan border”.

It was reiterated during the process that all border related issues will be amicably resolved through mutual consultations, he added.

Earlier this month the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omer Zakhilwal, met Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and agreed to resolve the Torkham border issue and resume the routine cross border traffic.

Tension had escalated between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the two countries deployed tanks and armoured personnel carriers along the tense Torkham border besides sending more troops after their negotiating teams failed to resolve the border fencing dispute.

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Comments (61) Closed

M.shrafat

May 21, 2016 10:04pm

That would be a treason if politicians have done it.

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rich

May 21, 2016 10:12pm

on a lighter note the first battle won by afghan, maybe Pakistan will win the war wise move though

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Khan , USA

May 21, 2016 10:14pm

When can we see a goodwill gesture from Afghan side ?

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist

May 21, 2016 10:15pm

Another effort by Pakistan to reach out to Afghanistan in good faith, yet I have little hopes from Afghanistan responding in similar manner. Accusations and foreign aid are practically the bread and butter of Afghan government.

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Ramesh Krishnan

May 21, 2016 10:18pm

I think its a strategy to cool Kabul after the deployment of Afghan Army Tanks on border...

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R.S. Menon.

May 21, 2016 10:27pm

Good. The happiness attained thru renouncement is greater than the happiness attained thru possession. R.S. Menon, Bangalore

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Sixer From Chakwal

May 21, 2016 10:29pm

Can't say yet if this is good or not but may be Pakistan has done a good thing while going on back foot. Time will tell if this helps or not but it is a step towards peace.

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Shah

May 21, 2016 10:47pm

What a blunder... Now wait for influx of RAW agents through Angoor Ada. Can you trust NDS led Afghan authorities.

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TechnoKraft

May 21, 2016 10:49pm

None have the sense not to shoot against the sun

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M.Asim

May 21, 2016 10:54pm

Where is the solution of Durandline ?

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khurram s

May 21, 2016 10:59pm

We may have to regret

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Zalmay

May 21, 2016 11:11pm

Good going. We luv you Afghanistan

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Aditya

May 21, 2016 11:20pm

Chabahar started showing results!!

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Faiz H

May 21, 2016 11:22pm

Durand line needs to be removed.

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asif

May 21, 2016 11:23pm

Afghanistan-1, Pakistan-0

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Khwarezmi

May 21, 2016 11:47pm

Bad move for several reasons: 1. Afghan intelligence is working with RAW against Pakistan. 2. Pakistan must not give away one single inch of Pak territory. 3. Afghanistanis do not believe in the Durand Line and giving away control of Angoor Ada makes no sence. 4. Fencing the border will resolve lot of issues for Pakistan.

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Layman

May 22, 2016 12:02am

Brotherly relations are not taking us anywhere.

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Akram

May 22, 2016 12:10am

@Ramesh Krishnan "I think its a strategy to cool Kabul after the deployment of Afghan Army Tanks on border". Yes you are right. We were getting sleepless nights with Afghan tanks on our border.

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Water

May 22, 2016 12:29am

This is called a praise worthy development! Bravo!

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Kyoorius

May 22, 2016 12:33am

This should leave no doubt in anyone's mind regarding who really runs the show in Pakistan.

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Asha

May 22, 2016 01:23am

Is it a victory of Afghan government or a clever move by Pakistan?

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Accountability

May 22, 2016 01:23am

Pakistan has done a lot for Afghanistan, beside taking in refugees and giving use of sea ports. Now its about time afghans realize that there should be no trouble maker coming across the border. Afghans should be held responsible if any troublemaker or spies come to Pakistan from afghan side. Enough is enough.

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Nino

May 22, 2016 01:31am

Cry thee oh beloved country, What confusion rules thy heart? The pain of your soul being torn apart I bear witness to your torment Another night, another plight, We wonder in amazement oh! what fools! Thy plunder and rape are in plane sight! Blinded and gagged! let their be no witness, None to speak a word!

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Guest

May 22, 2016 01:46am

Pakistan can not just surrender to the Indian supported Afghanistani force. COAS should sternly deal with the situation.

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qtr

May 22, 2016 01:51am

@Aditya u mean gwadar

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Zak

May 22, 2016 01:53am

Cool. Lets outsource the other side posts to India for brotherly relations. Why does Pakistan only have to make all the peace gestures?

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May 22, 2016 02:00am

This is how border disputes should be resolved, too bad the Indians don't believe in good will gestures

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Ady

May 22, 2016 02:15am

@R.S. Menon. It was request by Afghan authorities, otherwise tanks were on both sides

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Muslim Medina

May 22, 2016 02:27am

Trusting Afghanistan is like putting head in the mouth of a tiger.

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Ali

May 22, 2016 02:43am

@Khan , USA .... Never; Pakistan owes a lot - means, Life - to other neighbours as well

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Rizwan

May 22, 2016 02:44am

Guys Ada Angoor is still a Pakistani administrated town, the Afghan forces just have control of the border crossing checklist that's all. Afghanistan doesn't have an inch of Pakistani territory. Pakistan will destroy Afghanistan if they ever think about stealing Pakistani land.

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lafanga

May 22, 2016 03:23am

I trust Pak army for taking this step. The intel agency and army knows everything about what NDS is upto in cohoots with RAW. It's not that Pakistan will completely leave the border post unchecked or unattended. Perhaps they want to see how Afghan forces man it and if they deliberately will let any terrorists into Pakistan in which case Pakistan will have better case to confront Afghan govt.

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Umer Salahuddin

May 22, 2016 03:24am

Whatever Pakistan do for Afghanistan it will never change it's gesture towards Pakistan. Why we do not learn from the past what Afghanistan has done for pakistan. Only hostility.

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lafanga

May 22, 2016 03:26am

@Ramesh Krishnan Deploying tanks was just a feeble message by the Afghan govt. They know Afghan army cannot mount any offensive across the border against Pak army and live to talk about it.

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Irfan Baloch

May 22, 2016 03:41am

Indian conspiracies to cause a conflict can be defeated through such actions

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Farhan

May 22, 2016 03:45am

Afghan have demanded to restore Duran line of control and this is a first step. First time Pakistan gave big swath of land to enemy country.

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Pakistani sanguine

May 22, 2016 03:48am

chahabahar or whatever, we have to give conditions to Afghani that don't move to one inch toward Pakistan territory, till further notice of their god father US, and mother India,. wrong step,.. worst step, it's not gesture but desture... we need a lot nagociat with Afghanistan before open border.. instead of gave them An go or Ada.. nonsense........

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Ali

May 22, 2016 03:50am

@Faiz H: It is just a start to new directions with peace in mind - not the destructive war

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Hindu

May 22, 2016 03:50am

Great! And now, when are you handing over that part of Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan and which legitimately belongs to India, back to India? Yes, I am speaking of (i) the territory you euphemistically call "Azad Kashmir" (which is anything but "Azad"), (ii) Gilgit-Baltistan, and (iii) the territory (which was not yours to begin with) which you illegally ceded to China ("Shaksgam tract", I believe it is called?). (OK, Let's compromise: Give India back the territory, and you can keep the people. On your land, of course.)

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Osman

May 22, 2016 04:06am

Good move, but the Indian government will find a way to hamper any trust building initiatives.

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Ali

May 22, 2016 04:12am

@Khwarezmi [3] world eventually would be borderless with no dividing lines. Forget not that India also gave away its majestic areas of great land to us what we call now Pakistan. It is our weakness that we always have been on the receiving end like a beggar from the very inception of our Pakistan. In Life one must learn and adopt the Turns and Stops and The End. [4] Fencing across this and all other borders as well is more divisionary and practically we will become imprisoned within a prison boundary and more over the cost would be beyond the reach of our poor beggar country.

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Qamar Ahmed

May 22, 2016 04:18am

Since Pakistan came into being Afghan never accepted this reality. They always favoured India and Iran. Nowadays they are providing all kind of espionage facility to India for subversive activities against us. So this gesture is very surprising. Afgans are like this proverb that whatever you say but I will do it my way.

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PARVEZ PC CHOWDHURY

May 22, 2016 05:33am

Can Afghanistan afford hostility with Pakistan? or Can Pakistan afford enemy on its Western front and on its Eastern front?

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surya

May 22, 2016 05:34am

Afghan is stronger than Pakistan. Once it stabilizes by getting rid of Taliban , it soon dictate terms to Pakistan because of its inbuilt strength....it is not just military...in all areas including cricket.

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Khan , USA

May 22, 2016 06:19am

The crippled civilan government has failed again to protect the country while military is making generous decisions to secure foot .

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Khan

May 22, 2016 06:37am

@Khwarezmi brother.. Why would you want to fence The border? Do you know how many people work on the Afghan side of the border and live on the pak side and vice versa. They make their living out of it, and we can't help them in any other way and still want to close even that door on them. Visit both side of the borders and then you will get to know the reality. Hate to hate each other over the mess made by the politicians. I am an Afghan and I love Pakistan.

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ahmadwattanyar

May 22, 2016 06:40am

Pakistan did this in desperation. Here are the reasons why? 1. Successful peace settlement with one of the main opposition parties of Hekmatyar which will for sure put pressure on Pakistan backed Taliban. 2. Signing of Chahbahar port. 3. Return of Goodwill to the Afghan side after the release of Gilani's son. 4. Resentment from Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand line with respect to Angor Ada. Pakistan knows that if there is a conflict on Durand line it will benefit Afghans. Imagine if Afghans were fighting near Lahore. Who will get support of the locals? Do not tell me Afghans!!!! 5. Increased pressure from western countries after good diplomacy from Ashraf Ghani. 6. ....... 7. .......

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Sachin

May 22, 2016 07:24am

So, Pak had to give up with the combined pressure & build up at the border by Afghanistan, US & India!Also China's pressure worked this time. Now your turn to maintain brotherly relations with your mighty neighbor on eastern side too by handing over the occupied Kashmir. You won't do that as Army's presence & expenditure would be under scrutiny and their interference in the governance, especially law & order as well as foreign policy would be zeroed.

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Afghan Jelebi

May 22, 2016 07:26am

hopefully we can now settle the Durant line issue too.

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raja

May 22, 2016 07:27am

@Khwarezmi please close all your entries except cpec...!! do you think cpec is nly to connect between pakistan and china...!! if you think so...!! its your craziness...!! china building cpec to use pak soil to transit their goods to central asia countries incl afghan and to counter india....!!!

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YOUKNOWIMRIGHT

May 22, 2016 08:47am

@Faiz H says the Durand Line "needs to be removed". And replace it with what? A new international boundary drawn up in Kabul, with New Delhi helping to pull the strings that meets the wish of some Afghans for the Pakistanis to fall back to the Indus? The boundary has stood for 123 years and has been accepted by the international community, bar one recalcitrant and its meddling dost.

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MAK

May 22, 2016 08:59am

It's only Pakistan responsible to make efforts for keeping brotherly relationship with neighbor countries India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan - why goodwill gesture always comes from Pakistan side and we know how India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan claiming that PAK is terrorist country and how the way they are treating us?? never understand when PAK will be able to stand strong..

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MAK

May 22, 2016 09:09am

Sorry to PAK force!! Worst move in these conditions..

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Sunil

May 22, 2016 09:12am

What is the real motive behind this

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PTunnel

May 22, 2016 09:16am

Really hope they know what they are doing. I'd feel quite uncomfortable that a part of Pakistani land was simply handed away to a foreign army as a gesture. And not just any foreign army ... one which is increasingly aggressive towards Pakistan, is co-operating with Indian agencies to spread discord in Pakistan and thinks it can intimidate a nuclear nation by marching tanks across its borders.

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Sami Qureshi

May 22, 2016 09:32am

Angoor Adda was the " Peer Panjal " of the Western Sector . War strategists know it well that with the surrender of Peer Panjal height to India under the Simla Agreement, Pakistan lost the Eastern Sector, although she tried to ignite it later through Kargil heights but failed. Angoor Adda has provided the Afghan Forces to consolidate their position in that sector.

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A R Durrani

May 22, 2016 10:07am

The million dollar question here is that is the Army authorized for such a move? This is the decision which must be taken by the government with the approval of parliament. How can army act on his own and give away a facility on a disputed border? This is just another story of sorry state of affairs in Pakistan.

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Alibaba

May 22, 2016 01:45pm

I don't think pakistan had a choice in it.even if u look at the picture all of them are afghani only two or three are pakistani so pakistan didn't give them they took it....so all pay respect to our corruption free and honest beloved pakistani leaders to whom you all put in the power because of them it happened. Let's see what else they will give it to our neighbors in good gesture. ..ohhhh ohhh I have an idea why don't we give Kashmir to India in a good gesture and all the the hatred and hostility will end and both countries can live in peace and happiness and no more wars threat or killing so why can we do that...

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Mohammad Fida

May 23, 2016 12:54am

But does not say if it is a temporary local arrangement or permanent? Angoor adda remained for longer time in news since Taliban emerged and one time a 3000 strong supply line was hijacked probably at the same junction that they now say was a buffer area?

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Muhammad Arshad

May 23, 2016 01:56pm

Why Pak Army handed over the post to Afghan Army, who cares if they have Afghanistan has deployed tanks on Pak-Afghan border, Pakistan should not only put the barb wire on the border, but should also build a wall.

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jam shed

May 24, 2016 05:53am

First, at the minimum Afghanistan has to prove herself as a functioning country not dozens hotchpotch large and small tribes, ethnic people who are at loggerhead with each other, work and live through primitive tribal political system not even remotely close to democracy in modern sense. Extend its writ beyond Kabul, reach out or defeat Taliban shun drug business altogether, take back 4 million refugees that have become a security threat for Pakistan and ask US to leave. Handing over a check post is nothing more than a token and will change nothing. US spent $25 billion on Afghan army equipment, training, housing and the result is the same. Nothing will change in Afghanistan. This is unfortunatley a norm in Afghanistan but true. Only the outside powers highly exaggerate its potential.

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