Pak Army provides safe passage to 46 Afghan troops in Pakistan

The Pakistan Army provided shelter and safe passage to 46 Afghan National Army (ANA) and Border Police soldiers.

A statement from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said a local ANA commander across Arandu, Chitral, had requested help for 46 troops, including five officers.

According to the commander of the Afghan National Army, “they cannot maintain control over the military posts along the border with Pakistan amidst the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.”

The statement added that the Pakistani military has contacted Afghan authorities for relevant information and necessary action.

“Afghan troops reached the Arandu sector of Chitral late at night. After contacting the Afghan authorities and the necessary military procedures, 46 soldiers, including five officers.

The ISPR statement said that “military personnel have been provided with food, shelter and necessary medical assistance in accordance with established military principles.”

“Soldiers and officers will be returned to the Afghan government in a dignified manner after due process,” it said.

Citing a similar incident, the ISPR statement said, “On July 1, 35 Afghan soldiers who had sought refuge were also given safe passage in Pakistan and handed over to the Afghan government after due process.”

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had earlier told a local newspaper that Pakistan had shifted the Frontier Constabulary, Levies Force and others along the Pak-Afghan border from the frontline fronts as the army began work on those fronts.

The federal minister had said that “now that the paramilitary forces have been replaced, regular army troops are managing the border.”

He said the decision was taken in view of the volatile situation across the border.

He added that “given the current volatile situation (in Afghanistan), it is imperative that regular troops be deployed along the border.”

Earlier in July, more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the border into Tajikistan after the Taliban advanced into northern Afghanistan.

The Taliban have seized six key districts in the northern province of Badakhshan, bordering both Tajikistan and China, after 1,037 Afghan soldiers fled the border with Tajik permission.