Rockets allegedly fired from Pakistan at the Afghan Goshta District in the eastern Nangarhar Province have displaced hundreds of families over the past two weeks, officials and local people say.
Rockets allegedly fired from Pakistan at the Afghan Goshta District in the eastern Nangarhar Province have displaced hundreds of families over the past two weeks, officials and local people say.
The Interior Ministry has called on the Pakistani Government on 4 March to immediately stop the shelling and avoid a further deterioration of the situation.
“Pakistani authorities have told us that the rockets were fired mistakenly and would not be repeated in the future,” Zemarai Bashari, a spokesman of the interior ministry, said in a press conference. “We hope the attacks will stop and the Government of Pakistan would avoid making similar attacks again.”
Over the past two weeks, the Goshta District has been attacked 16 times from the Pakistani side of the border, Nangarhar’s security officials told Killid.
However, Mohammad Tawfiq Ghoury, Pakistan’s General Counsel in Nangarhar Province, expressed his unawareness about the attacks. “All I know is that Pakistani forces are fighting armed Taliban in the border areas,” he told Killid.
Afghan officials contend this cannot justify cross border attacks.
“The attacks demonstrate a clear violation of the Afghanistan sovereignty and are absolutely illegal under international laws,” said Aminullah Amarkhil, a commander of the eastern border security forces.
Afghanistan and Pakistan share a 2,400km porous border and both governments accuse each other of doing little to curb the free movement of subversive elements over the border.
Afghan authorities allege that the Taliban leadership is provided with safe heavens, political and financial support and military trainings and equipments in Pakistan’s Baluchistan and Khyber Pukhunkhwa provinces. The border areas are also described as the breeding grounds of al-Qaeda and other Islamist insurgents who have declared a holy war, Jihad, against the Afghan Government and its Western allies. On the same token, Pakistan alleges that Baloch separatists and other elements it deems unsavory are receiving shelter and support in Afghanistan.
Since the inception of Pakistan in 1947, successive Afghan governments have refused to recognize the so-called Durand Line as an official border due to mutual territorial disagreements.
Displacement, losses
Up to 600 families in Goshta District have been forced out of their homes by the shelling from Pakistan, according to government officials and tribal elders. The rockets have also caused extensive damages to the local houses, shops and agriculture fields.
“Hundreds of households have been displaced and a police officer has been wounded as a result of the rockets fired from Pakistan’s territory,” said Amarkhil.
“There is neither a military base nor armed forces in our village but we don’t know why the Pakistanis fire rockets and destroy our houses,” said Attaullah, a resident of Goshta’s Anaraki village.
“All our properties have been destroyed and we don’t know how to rebuild them,” said another local man, Abdullah.
The displaced families have sought refuge in the neighboring Kama District and in other nearby areas, according to a tribal elder. They are believed to be living in difficult circumstances and lack access to shelter, food, potable water, healthcare and other basic needs.
“The weather is cold and people are suffering all sorts of problems,” said Haji Ahmad, a tribal elder, adding that no humanitarian assistance had been provided to the displaced families by the government and aid agencies.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said provincial authorities had discussed the provision of humanitarian assistance to the affected people with aid agencies. The local department of rural rehabilitation and development, meanwhile, said that non-food aid including warm cloths and blankets had been distributed to the displaced families. Abdulzai refused to confirm whether the Afghan Government will ask Pakistan to compensate or at least provide some kind of financial assistance to the people who have lost their properties in the rocket attacks.
Unfriendly neighbors
As Kabul tries to renew the Afghanistan-U.S. Strategic Partnership Agreement Iran, Pakistan and even Russia have warned about the risks of an indefinite U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
Severely affected by over three decades of war and lacking strong security institutions to ensure its security against internal and external threats, some Afghan officials and experts say, Afghanistan must seek strong security guarantees from the U.S. at least in the foreseeable future.
U.S. officials have rejected rumors about Washington’s plans for the establishment of permanent military bases in Afghanistan but have said the U.S. will remain engaged in our country after 2014 when Afghan security forces will assume all security responsibilities from their U.S.-NATO allies.
“We have no interest in permanent bases [in Afghanistan]. But if the Afghans want us here, we are certainly prepared [to stay],” Robert Gates, U.S. Defense Secretary, said during a joint press conference with President Hamid Karzai on 7 March.
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