A top military commander said the Islamic Emirate will not allow fencing on the Durand Line.  

“We will not allow the fencing anytime, in any form. Whatever they did before, they did, but we will not allow it anymore. There will be no fencing anymore,” Mawllawi Sanaullah Sangin, commander of the border forces for the eastern zone, told TOLOnews on Wednesday.  

The commander made the comments in reaction to the Pakistan foreign minister’s remarks who said that the issue of the Durand Line fencing would be discussed via diplomatic channels.

The Islamic Emirate is building over 30 outposts to prevent the movement of the Pakistani military alongside the Durand Line.  

“We have fenced the border (with Afghanistan), and it will continue,” FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in response to a question. 

A spokesman for the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said that the Islamic Emirate “believes in addressing problems through understanding, talks and good neighborliness.”

People on both sides of the Durand Line are complaining that they have been unable to commute since the construction of the fencing.  

Commander Sanaullah Sangin said that the Pakistan military has been launching attacks on Kunar province for a long time and the Afghan side would take similar actions from now on.

“You have seen some days ago that they (Pakistani military) fired some mortars. In response, we fired 32 mortar rounds,” he said. 

Residents of the eastern province of Kunar called on the Islamic Emirate to prevent fencing along the line.  

“The fencing constructed by Pakistan has separated our brothers, relatives and tribes,” said Mattiullah Momand, a resident.  

Clashes between Afghan forces and Pakistani militias over fencing have occurred since the previous Afghan government was in power, but Islamabad has not stopped it.