CHAMAN, Pakistan: Pakistan guards used tear gas Thursday to disperse hundreds of people who tried to breach a border crossing into Afghanistan, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan side of the frontier, officials said.
« This morning a mob of some 400 unruly commuters tried to cross the gate forcefully. They threw stones, which forced us to use tear gas, » said a security official at the southwest Chaman border, who asked not to be named.
« We had to baton charge because people were getting unruly, » said a second border official, who also did not want to be named.
Jumadad Khan, a senior government official in Chaman, said the situation was now « under control ».
The Taliban captured the strategic border crossing of Spin Boldak district on the frontier with Pakistan on Wednesday, continuing sweeping gains made since foreign forces stepped up their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The crossing provides direct access to Pakistan’s Balochistan province — where the Taliban’s top leadership has been based for decades — along with an unknown number of reserve fighters who regularly enter Afghanistan to help bolster their ranks.