ISLAMABAD: The Torkham border, a crucial crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, remains closed for the seventh consecutive day. The discussions between the two sides have not reached a resolution, leaving trade convoys and travelers stranded.
Since the closure of the Torkham border, one of the two primary crossings between the neighboring countries, hundreds of trucks carrying essential goods have become stranded on both sides due to an exchange of fire during a dispute.
Sources indicate that Pak-Afghan authorities held a meeting concerning the border closure. The discussions between the two sides did not lead to a resolution.
The recent standoff arose when Taliban guards initiated the construction of a new security post near the Torkham border which Pakistan considers it a violation of mutual agreements.
Pakistan Condemns Afghan Border Actions
Pakistan expressed surprise on Monday over a statement from the Afghan foreign ministry regarding the Torkham border closure. It stated that the interim Afghan authorities are well aware of the reasons for the temporary closure of the border.
In a statement, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch asserted that Pakistan cannot accept the construction of any structures by the interim Afghan government within its territory, as such actions infringe upon its sovereignty.
“On the 6th of September, instead of a peaceful resolution, Afghan troops resorted to indiscriminate firing, targeting Pakistan military posts, damaging the infrastructure at the Torkham Border Terminal, and putting the lives of both Pakistani and Afghan civilians at risk, when they were stopped from erecting such unlawful structures,” she commented.
She stated that unprovoked firing on Pakistani border posts is unjustifiable.
The spokesperson noted that such firing by Afghan border security forces empowers terrorist elements, who have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan, as confirmed by the UN Security Council’s latest report.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share 18 crossing points, including the busy Torkham and Chaman crossings.
Terrorist attacks have increased in Pakistan since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani sent a demarche to the Afghan charge d’affaires following a recent terrorist attack on two military posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral district.
