Taliban's opposition to Durand fencing not its policy, claims Pakistan NSA

Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf has said the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan were maintaining cordial ties with Pakistan despite recent border fencing troubles. He said that those incidents were "local level issues" that were addressed locally and had nothing to do with the policy of the Taliban government.

Islamabad: Contrary to media reports, Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf has said the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan were maintaining cordial ties with Pakistan despite recent border fencing troubles.

"At the policy level in Afghanistan there is total positivity on Pakistan," said Yusuf, at a meeting of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, the Dawn newspaper reported. Yusuf said ties with the new regime in Afghanistan were in complete contrast to the hostility and acrimony towards Pakistan witnessed during the previous government.

Answering questions on multiple border incidents with the Taliban, Yusuf said those incidents were "local level issues" that were addressed locally and had nothing to do with the policy of the Taliban government. As the Taliban try to establish themselves politically in Afghanistan, the issue of the Durand Line has resurfaced. Recent media reports said the Taliban have damaged parts of the 2,670-km Durand Line erected by the Pakistan army.

On one hand, Pakistan has vowed to "resolve the issues diplomatically." On other hand, the Taliban insists that the Durand Line "has divided one nation on both sides," which the Islamic outfit "do not want." Earlier, the Taliban military has tried to stop the Pakistani military from erecting barbed-wire fences and outposts in the Nangahar Province on the Durand Line. Pakistan wishes to fence the border to control the movements of Pashtuns across its border, who are scattered between the Durand Line.

ANI