ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan over alleged cross-border shelling could disrupt the Afghan peace process which relies on cooperation between the two neighbors to progress as the 2014 pullout of NATO forces from Afghanistan is drawing near.
Afghan officials claimed that Pakistani forces fired nearly 50 rockets into eastern Afghan province of Kunar on March 25 and 26.
In return, the Afghan Foreign Ministry cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by Afghan army officers for joint exercises. Pakistan described the decision as 'overreaction' to a local issue.
Aimal Faizi, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, said that Pakistan is "harming efforts to end the Taliban's bloody 11- year insurgency."
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin claimed that some Afghan Taliban leaders who signified their intention to join in the peace process were either killed or arrested in Pakistan.
Afghan officials, who had always sought Pakistan's role in reconciliation with Taliban, said however that they can now pursue the peace process without Islamabad's help.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry clarified that Pakistani troops merely returned small arms fire at the specific directions from where the militants fired at the Pakistani border posts.
Cross-border shelling and militant attacks have been the major source of tension between the two neighbors over the past few years.
Islamabad has insisted that Pakistani militants, who had fled military offensive in Swat valley in the northwestern tribal belt, have routinely launched attacks on Pakistani posts and villages from Afghan border areas.
The Pakistani military said that about 100 Pakistani security personnel and civilians have been killed in 20 militant attacks from Afghan side of the border in the past year.
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