By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The main Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing, a key trade and travel route between the two countries, reopened on Friday after a nine-day closure following a clash between their border forces, officials said.
The border was opened after an agreement was reached during a meeting between Pakistan’s chief of mission and senior Afghan officials in Kabul on Thursday, a senior official in Pakistan said.
Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul on Thursday and discussed the recent spike in terror incidents, the closure of the Torkham border, and arrests of Afghan migrants in Pakistan, the official said, requesting anonymity.
The Afghan foreign ministry had assured Pakistan that “the Afghan territory shall not be employed for hostile actions against Pakistan”, the official added.
An official at the Torkham border confirmed the crossing had reopened early Friday morning, starting with pedestrian movement and then allowing stranded trucks to cross.
“We hope this will pave the way for better relations and cooperation between the two countries,” he said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
The border was shut on September 6 after a gun battle erupted between Pakistani and Afghan border forces, injuring at least two people, including a Pakistani soldier. Pakistan accused Afghanistan of starting the firefight, which lasted for about two hours, after the Afghan authorities began building a checkpoint on their side in a prohibited area, close to the main border crossing.
On September 11, a meeting between Pakistani and Afghan border security officials to reach an agreement over the reopening of the border remained inconclusive.
A day earlier, scores of political activists, transporters, traders, laborers and representatives of local organizations held a protest demonstration against the prolonged closure of the Torkham border.
They termed it an economic murder of the people affiliated with bilateral trade and other manual jobs and also warned that they would stage an indefinite sit-in at the Zero Point if the border crossing was not reopened within two days.
During a weekly press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan had been implementing the Afghanistan and Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement — signed in 2020 — “in good faith”.
“We have facilitated our landlocked neighbor in their access to the rest of the world in terms of trade and we will continue to do so,” Baloch said.
However, she said Pakistan had some concerns regarding the misuse of the transit trade agreement on which it would engage with the Afghan government.
“Our major concern is that sometimes the exports that are meant for Afghanistan are diverted back to Pakistan and the customs duties and taxes are not paid as they should be. So, there are certain concerns of our customs authorities that people are misusing the bilateral provisions that allow for trade with Afghanistan.”
She also said Pakistan was concerned about the security threat emanating from Afghanistan and referred to the September 6 incident in Chitral — when at least four security men embraced martyrdom while more than 16 fighters were killed as militants’ attempts to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan were foiled by troops deployed along the border with the neighboring country.
“We believe that such incidents embolden the terrorists and that is why it is important for the Afghan interim authorities to ensure that Afghan territory is not used to threaten Pakistan,” she maintained.
The Foreign Office further added that action against Afghan refugees “harboring terror links” would be taken as per the laws.
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