Afghan vice president accuses Pak Air Force of trying to help Taliban

Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh on Thursday accused the Pakistan Air Force of warning Afghan security forces that it would retaliate against any move to remove the Taliban fighters in the strategic border region of Spin Boldak.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, he wrote, "Breaking: Pakistan air force has issued an official warning to the Afghan Army and Air Force that any move to dislodge the Taliban from Spin Boldak area will be faced and repelled by the Pakistan Air Force. Pak air force is now providing close air support to Taliban in certain areas".

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In another tweet, he wrote that he was “ready to share evidence” about the warning from the Pakistani military to the Afghan side. He added that Afghan aircraft “as far as 10 kilometres from Spin Boldak R warned 2 back off or face air to air missiles”.
There was no immediate response to the allegation from the Pakistani side.

Meanwhile, a senior Afghan government official said that the government forces had retaken control of a major border crossing with Pakistan from the Taliban. However, Taliban dismissed the claim saying that they still control the border crossing.

Taliban fighters captured the Spin Boldak-Chaman border crossing on Wednesday, the second most important crossing on the border with Pakistan and a major source of revenue for the Western-backed government in Kabul.

But Afghan forces retook the area's main market, the customs department and other government installations in the border town a few hours later on Wednesday, as per the government officials in Kandahar province.

Government forces, who had initially fallen back to minimise civilian and security personnel losses, were conducting clearing operations, the official said.