Kabul lodges protest with Islamabad

KABUL’s soil into eastern Kunar province, the foreign ministry said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Lodin communicated Afghanistan’s concerns over the cross-border incursions to Pakistan Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq.

Afghanistan’s National Security Council (NSC) directed relevant state organs to take effective measures to halt the incursions. Chaired by President Hamid Karzai, a meeting of the NSC asked security agencies to submit a comprehensive report to it as soon as possible.

Also on Sunday, in its first session after the summer recess, the Wolesi Jirga asked the government to break its silence on the missiles strikes into Kunar. Returning from the 45-day break, legislators stressed an end to the displacement of civilians and material losses. 

A foreign ministry statement said the two sides had agreed to discuss the issue at a joint meeting of senior Pakistani and Afghan military commanders in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.

The meeting would help forge coordination between military commanders on both sides of the frontier and explore ways of preventing the attacks, the ministry statement added.

Lodin warned the continuation of cross-border attacks into Afghan villages could negatively impact bilateral ties. Both countries should work together on important issues like ensuring security and economic cooperation, he suggested. Three men and a woman were killed and a fifthe person injured in the latest attack on July 19.

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