The main crossing on the Afghan-Pakistani border remained closed on Tuesday for the third straight day, officials said, after Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers earlier this week shut down the key trade route and exchanged fire with guards Pakistan border.
The closure added to rising tensions between the two neighboring countries and concerns for traders, for whom Torkham Crossing is a key trading artery. Trucks carrying various items also travel to Central Asian countries from Pakistan, through Torkham Crossing and Afghanistan.
On the Pakistani side of the border, in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, many traders on Tuesday kept an eye on their trucks, loaded with fresh produce that could soon go bad, and waited for the crossing to reopen.
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The Taliban shut down Torkham on Sunday, angered by Pakistan’s alleged refusal to allow Afghan patients and their caregivers to enter Pakistan for medical treatment without travel documents. On Monday, Taliban fighters and Pakistani guards exchanged fire. There was no casualty report on either side.
According to Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, nearly 7,000 trucks carrying various goods, including perishable fruits and vegetables, were stuck and lined up, waiting on the Pakistani side.
A Pakistani paramilitary soldier, front and Taliban fighters stand guard on each other’s sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border as a truck moves to a crossing point in Torkham, Khyber District, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad, Files))
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Hundreds of Pakistanis with valid travel documents were also waiting near Torkham for the crossing to reopen, he added. “It’s causing problems for traders on both sides.”
There were also vehicles waiting on the other side of the border in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, but the Taliban have not commented on the matter.
Siddiqullah Quraishi, a Taliban-appointed official at Nangahar’s information and culture department, said Pakistan had failed to meet its “commitments, so the crossing has been closed”. He didn’t elaborate, but advised Afghans to avoid going to the crossing until further notice.
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Lockdowns, cross-border fires and shootings are common along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Both sides have in the past closed Torkham, as well as the Chaman crossing in southwest Pakistan, for various reasons.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were withdrawing from the country after 20 years of war. Like the rest of the world, Pakistan has so far failed to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The international community is wary of the harsh measures of the Taliban, imposed since their seizure of power, especially in limiting the rights of women and minorities.
