Pakistan reopens key border crossing for trade with Afghanistan
Pakistani authorities on Tuesday said they were allowing Afghan truck drivers through the shared border with Afghanistan for the first time in over 10 days.
“Torkham border has been reopened, and dozens of trucks loaded with goods have already crossed the border,” said Muhammad Ishaq, a customs official at the Torkham border.
The crossing in north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunwa adjoins Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.
It had been closed for trucks on both sides after authorities started demanding valid travel documents, something that had not been the case before.
The government has now set a new deadline, and Ishaq said that drivers without travel documents will not be allowed entry into Pakistan starting April 1.
The border has been closed several times in the past, and the latest decision came amid Pakistan’s crackdown and expulsion of illegal Afghan refugees from the country.
Pakistan started the mass deportations of undocumented or illegal Afghan refugees in November, a move criticised by Western governments and global human rights groups.
At least 473,556 Afghan refugees have left the country, according to the officials.
(dpa/NAN)
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