Clashes between the Taliban and Pakistani border force has kept the Torkham crossing for the second day.
The two sides heavy artillery across the border on Monday. The Taliban has accused Pakistan of “breach of commitment.”
Shabir Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Torkham, told KabulNow that the clashes began earlier this morning and both sides are now exchanging fire with heavy weaponry.
Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a Taliban member named Abdul Samad has been killed in clashes with Pakistani border forces.
Video footages also circulated on social media showing panic locals and travellers seeking shelters while artillery shelling being heard non-stop.
“Torkham commissioner, Mawlawi Mohammad Sediq, says that Torkham gate is shut for all kinds of movements, transit, and travels,” the media office of Taliban governor in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province quoted the border official as saying in a tweet on Sunday.
The Taliban commissioner at Torkham accused Pakistan of breaching its “commitments” adding that the gate was closed following the direction of the Taliban’s leadership.
He advised Afghans to avoid traveling through the Torkham border crossing.
Torkham is one of Afghanistan’s key and most frequented border crossings which is used by thousands of travellers, including a large number of traders, on a daily basis between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
