Calm returns to Chaman border after overnight clashes
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• DC confirms fighting between Pakistani forces and Afghan Taliban has stopped
• SSP says security measures taken, situation is under control
QUETTA: Calm returned to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman on Saturday after heavy clashes occurred between the two sides a day earlier.
At least three civilians were injured in the clashes last night and were shifted to the district hospital in Chaman. On the Afghan side, five people were injured, according to Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat.
According to officials, Afghan forces fired mortar shells on the Badani area, prompting security forces to retaliate. However, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed it was Pakistan that launched an attack on Spin Boldak, alleging that their forces were responding.
Mosharraf Zaidi, the prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, confirmed the clashes.
“A short while ago, the Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing along the Chaman border. An immediate, befitting [and] intense response has been given by our armed forces,” he wrote in a post on X early Saturday morning.
“Pakistan remains fully alert [and] committed to ensuring its territorial integrity [and] the safety [of] our citizens,” he added.
‘Fighting has stopped’
Chaman Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Bangulzai confirmed that fighting between Pakistani forces and the Afghan Taliban had stopped. He said that immediately after the Taliban attack, an emergency was declared at Chaman District Hospital.
However, the deputy commissioner did not comment on the human or property losses.
SSP Chaman Abdullah Cheema said all security measures had been taken and the situation was under control. Sources said a mortar shell landed on a house and exploded, injuring a couple and their daughter.
The residents of the area said that a large number of families living in border villages were shifted to Chaman city.
“Heavy fighting started at 10pm and continued for over two hours,” an official of the local administration said. The clash comes amid stalled negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan after three rounds of talks in Istanbul could not yield any results.
Border clashes first broke out between the two nations on Oct 11. Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan have come under strain in recent times as the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains the main point of contention between the two countries.
Pakistan has demanded that the rulers in Kabul take action to stop cross-border terrorism.
Pak-Afghan talks
Soon after the clashes on Oct 11, a temporary ceasefire was called on Oct 15, after the two sides came together to engage in dialogue in Doha.
Following the Doha talks, a temporary ceasefire continued to prevent border hostilities while the two sides committed to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries. On Oct 25, the second round of talks between the two sides began in the Turkish capital. But, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced in a post on X on Oct 29 that the talks “failed to bring about any workable solution”.
However, mediators from Turkiye and Qatar intervened and managed to salvage the dialogue process with an Oct 31 joint statement released by Ankara stating that “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a principal-level meeting in Istanbul on Nov 6.
But on Nov 7, after the third round of talks, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said talks addressing cross-border terrorism were “over” and “entered an indefinite phase” as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences between the two sides.
Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2025
