UPDATE - Kabul envoy slams Pakistani media's reaction to clash

UPDATES WITH QUOTES FROM PAKISTANI ADVISER AZIZ

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - An Afghan envoy on Monday contradicted Pakistani military claims it killed as many as 50 Afghan soldiers during a recent deadly border feud and slammed the jingoistic tone of Pakistani media that “celebrated” the killings.

Omar Zakhilwa, Afghan president's special envoy and ambassador to Pakistan, said the toll from the incident was two soldiers dead and seven others injured.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Zakhilwa said: “1/2: Woke up to celebratory front page headlines today on all Pak papers saying Pak killed 50 Afg soldiers & injured 100 in Chaman clash.

“2/4: Was based on info provided by Pak army and FC south command. Truth is only 2 Afg soldiers got Shaheed and about 7 injured.

“3/4: However, even two lives are too many if our claim for seeking good neighbourly relations is genuine & if we mean well for each other.

“4/4: Chaman clash left casualties, deaths & injured, on Pak side too but we instead of celebrating called it unfortunate & regrettable.”

Earlier, the media office of the Afghan president too had rejected the Pakistani claim.

On Sunday, Maj. Gen. Nadeem Anjum, inspector general of Frontier Corps in Pakistan’s southern Balochistan province, said 50 Afghan security personnel had been killed and another 100 injured when Pakistani forces “retaliated to unprovoked firing” from across the border.

"We are not happy over their losses since they are our Muslim brothers," Anjum had said, according to Pakistani media outlet, Dawn.

Pakistani Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz described the recent border clash as “unfortunate”.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Islamabad on Monday, Aziz said Pakistani troops had not initiated Friday’s clash. Pakistani troops only retaliated to firing from Afghan forces, he said.

He said Pakistan did not want violence at the Pak-Afghan border and added that if Kabul had any reservations, it should be conveyed through diplomatic channels.

Following the skirmishes, the situation in the usually bustling border towns of Chaman on the Pakistani side and Spin Boldak on the Afghan side remains tense, and the crossing point between the two countries remained closed to all traffic and trade.

Like many villages and towns along the 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) long disputed border called the Durand Line between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Luqman and Nazar villages between Spin Boldak and Chaman districts are disputed. This is where the conflict reportedly erupted on Friday when Pakistani security forces wished to conduct its ongoing census exercise.

Afghanistan does not officially recognize the whole Durand Line as an international border with Pakistan. Kabul sees it as an annexation of the "Greater Afghanistan" by the then British colonial empire in 1896 before Pakistan and India gained their independence in 1947.

*Anadolu Agency's Aamir Latif contributed to this story from Karachi, Pakistan.