PESHWAR (HRNW) – The Torkham border between Pakistan and Afghanistan reopened on Friday for all kinds of traffic after nine days of closure.
The border that is used extensively by people from both sides for trade activities, was closed after clashes between border forces.
Pedestrian movement has begun following the resumption of traffic at the border with hundreds of travellers flocking to its immigration section for entry into Afghanistan.
“The clearance of trucks is in process and Afghan citizens are entering Afghanistan after clearance and passing immigration processes,” Irshad Khan Mohmand, assistant commissioner of Khyber district in Pakistan, told AFP.
“A series of talks between Pakistani and Afghan officials resolved the issue and the border was opened,” a security official in Torkham said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
He said thousands of loaded vehicles had been stuck on both sides of the border due at crossing point in northwestern Pakistan.
Pakistan said the Taliban administration had tried to encroach on its territory with the construction of an “unlawful structure” and accused Afghan forces of “indiscriminate firing”.
The Taliban foreign ministry said Pakistan security forces had fired on its troops as they fixed an old security outpost near the border. They criticised the border closing at a key entry point for landlocked Afghanistan.