Pakistan, Afghanistan hold talks on deadly border clashes

Pakistan's foreign ministry says an Afghan delegation has arrived in Islamabad for talks on last week's border clashes that killed two Afghan border guards and a Pakistani officer, ABC News reported.

Foreign Office's spokesman Nafees Zakaria says Monday's talks are aimed at promoting peace and resolving the escalation.

He says Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry welcomed the delegation led by Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister, Hekmat Khalil Karzai.

Afghanistan and Pakistan last week traded deadly heavy gunfire and artillery at the Torkham border crossing after Pakistan started building a gate on its side to check for unwanted and illegal movement.

Afghanistan does not recognize the present boundary, the so-called Durand Line, as an international border. Pakistan reopened the border crossing on Saturday, after the clashes stopped, allowing thousands of stranded to cross.

Source ; MENA