KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local Taliban authorities in eastern Nangarhar province report the closure of the Torkham crossing to Afghan travelers, including those with legal documentation.
Sediqullah Quareshi, the Taliban head of the Information and Culture Directorate in Nangarhar, said that Pakistani border authorities have not been allowing Afghans to enter or exit the country since Wednesday morning.
Local Taliban authorities did not specify the reason for Pakistan’s closure of the key border crossing, and the Pakistani side has also not commented on the matter.
The Torkham border crossing, situated between Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan’s Nangarhar provinces, is one of the busiest routes for traders and travelers, including patients.
This is not the first time the country has closed the border to Afghans. Since January, the border has been closed at least three times for several days to all travelers, including Afghan patients seeking medical treatment.
Pakistan has recently tightened border controls along its nearly 2,600-kilometer-long frontier with Afghanistan to deter terrorist infiltration, following a rise in terrorist attacks in the country in recent years.
The day before, Pakistani security forces killed three militants attempting to infiltrate the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Islamabad is concerned about the presence of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group with close ties to the regime in Kabul, which has carried out several deadly attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians in recent years.
The country accuses the Taliban of failing to uphold their commitment under the Doha agreement, which pledged to prevent any terrorist group from using Afghanistan to launch attacks on other countries. The Taliban has repeatedly denied these allegations.
