Key Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing remains shut, disrupting trade and movement of people

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A nearly weeklong closure of a key crossing on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has disrupted bilateral trade and the movement of people, causing financial losses to traders and leaving people stranded in harsh winter conditions, officials said Thursday.

The Torkham border crossing has remained closed since Feb. 21 after Pakistan shut it down over a dispute concerning Afghanistan’s construction of a border post.

Since then, more than 5,000 trucks and vehicles carrying goods, including fruits and vegetables, have been stranded on both sides, awaiting the reopening of the trade route, according to Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Torkham also serves as a vital corridor for transporting goods between Pakistan and Central Asian countries, and Sarhadi urged both countries to resolve their dispute so that bilateral trade and movement of people could resume.

At Torkham, truck driver Najeeb Ullah said that he was forced to sleep in his vehicle because he can't leave it unguarded on the road.

“We request Pakistan and Afghanistan to have mercy on us, as we are suffering without any reason,” he told reporters.

Hundreds stranded near the border

Mustafa Khan, another driver, said that he was hoping to return to his northwestern city of Peshawar after delivering a supply of cement in Afghan city Jalalabad, but “I am stuck here since Friday, and I have no idea for how many days we will have to face this trouble.”

Farhad Nusrat, an Afghan citizen, said that he was returning home with his mother and children, and the closure of the border crossing has forced them to spend their days and nights in the open area. He appealed to Pakistani authorities to reopen the border.

Authorities said that hundreds of Pakistanis were also stranded on the other side of the border.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. However, Abdul Jabbar Hikmat, the commissioner on the Afghan side of the border, confirmed the closure by Pakistan.

“Whenever Pakistani authorities conduct construction on their side, we say nothing. But whenever we do something, they close the border,” Hikmat said.

Border fence to strengthen control

Abdul Salam Jawad, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Trade and E-commerce, said that the border crossing was shut by Pakistan unilaterally and the Afghan authorities were trying to resolve this issue.

He said the closure also affected landlocked Afghanistan's transit trade. He provided no further details, but other Afghan Taliban and Pakistani local officials said those stranded on both sides included Afghan women, children, and patients who were either returning home or wanted to travel to Pakistan to receive medical treatment.

Border closures at Torkham are common because of disputes over new posts along the porous Durand Line, which Afghanistan has never officially recognized. Pakistan, meanwhile, has nearly completed a border fence to strengthen control.

The Torkham crossing is located on the edge of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Pakistani Taliban militants frequently target security forces.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in 2021. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, and increasing attacks by TTP on security forces in Pakistan has strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

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Rasool Dawar contributed to this report.