Afghanistan writes to UNSC, raises issue of violation of territory by Pakistan

The Afghanistan Government in a letter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) raised the issue of "consistent violations of Afghanistan's territory" by Pakistani forces.

According to Tolo News, Kabul, in its second letter to the humanitarian organisation in a week, also called on the United Nations to initiate "necessary measures to address the matter at hand in an effective manner."

The first letter written by the Afghan government to the UN was about a planned meeting between Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and Taliban's representatives in Islamabad.

In the letter, the Afghan government had stated that the meeting 'undermines' the Afghan peace process and 'violates Afghanistan's national sovereignty'.

However, the meeting was later called off by the Taliban saying that they are unable to travel due to UN and US travel restrictions on them.

In the letter to UNSC dated February 22, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to United Nation, Nazifullah Salarzai wrote, "The nature of these violations mainly includes persistent shelling of Afghan territory, particularly in districts and villages of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces; violation of Afghan air space by Pakistani military aircrafts, as well as construction of military posts, barbwire fence and barriers inside Afghanistan's territory, most recently in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar."

Giving the details about the violations that took place in Afghan territory, Salarzai stated that 28,849 artillery shells were fired into Afghanistan by Pakistan between during 2012 to 2017.

"What we have seen is nothing but actions that translate to the continued violation of the action plan," he added.