Pakistan and Afghan government have reached consensus on the issue of border fencing through talks, according to Pakistani officials.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have reached an understanding to resolve the issue of border fencing through talks. Pakistan and Afghanistan established contact at the highest level and agreed to resolve the issue through talks. “Both sides have reached an understanding not to escalate the situation,” the official said, adding that there were some issues of alignments about the border fencing and the two sides would resolve this mutually. “Afghan side was requested to coordinate border alignment before fixing the fence,” the official said.
The fencing of the 2,600-kilometre long and rugged border has remained one of the contentious issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The previous administration in Kabul also objected to the fencing of the border and even the Afghan side tried to stop Pakistan from erecting a fence.
Pakistan, however, went ahead with the fencing and as per officials, 90 per cent of the border with Pakistan is now fenced. The fencing is part of the border mechanism Pakistan has been working on for years in order to not just regulate the movement of people but also deny terrorists on both sides to shuttle between the two borders easily.
