Torkham border reopens for trade. Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been reopened for business activities, quoting official sources.
Relations between the two nations ruined since the Taliban took power in August 2021, with Islamabad accusing its neighbor of harboring militant groups that have agreed to strikes on its soil — a charge Kabul denies.
There have been regular flare-ups along the habitually mountainous dividing line splitting the countries — which no Afghan government has ever recognized — with sporadic gunfights and closures.
The Torkham border crossing reopened as of 6:00 am (0130 GMT) Saturday, Afghan customs official Muslim Khaksar said at the waypoint in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.
“The border is now open from both sides for civilians as well as for traders,” he said.
“Trucks carrying rice, cement, construction material, medicines, and other edibles sent to Afghanistan,” a Pakistani customs official said, adding that lorries loaded with coal, vegetables, and fruits had arrived in Pakistan.
About 1,400 trucks on the Pakistan side were still waiting to cross into Afghanistan, he added.
According to particulars, the official sources said that loaded vehicles from both sides arrived at the Torkham border.
The Pakistan customs officials have also confirmed the opening of business activities at the Pak-Afghan border.
Previously, Customs officials seized a container with a consignment of urea fertilizer at the Torkham border crossing.
Read Also: KP donates one day’s salary for quake-hit Turkey & Syria
Further Collector Customs Muhammad Tayeb had said that the department’s officials throughout the search of an export container at the border crossing, recovered a consignment of 40 tons of urea fertilizer, smuggled to Afghanistan.