Khyber: The crossing of the Torkham border is expected to have closed since February 21, open again, since Pakistani security officials held a meeting with the tribal elders on Tuesday after the Afghan team gave some “positive signs.”
Sources said Sunrise that the Jirga knew at the end of the night “to take stock of the situation.”
The development occurred after the Afghan Jirga meetings with the authorities in Kabul and Jalalabad.
Sources aware of the negotiations counted Sunrise They were constantly with the Afghan jirga, which understood elders and tribal merchants.
“They expressed optimism that the problem would be solved at any time during the current week.”
Jirga Pakistani members meet security officials to evaluate the situation
The cross -border movement of people through the border crossing of Torkham was suspended abruptly on February 21 after the Pakistani and Afghan security forces developed differences on construction activities on both sides of the border.
The situation worsened this month when eight people, including six troops, were injured after Pakistan and Afghan Taliban forces changed fire on the border.
Several houses, a mosque and some offices of compensation agents were run over by artillery shells, and the cross -border shot continued for three days.
Since then, tribal elders on both sides of the border have been involved in conversations to end the dead point.
According to the sources, both parties were in contact to fix a date and time for their next meeting, which believed it would be decisive.
Pakistani and Afghan delegates met Sunday for the first time after the border was closed on February 21.
The members of Jirga Pakistani told their Afghan counterparts that the border would only be reopened if “the protocols and agreements previously agreed to inform themselves about any change in any change in the existing structure of the border on both sides.”
“Pakistan would not tolerate any construction or renewal activity through the border,” since it was already decided and agreed between the two countries in the past that would not rise any additional structure near the zero point of the border, it was told to the Afghan side.
The sources told Dawn that the response and attitude of the Afghan side during the meeting and the subsequent telephone conversations were “positive.”
Since then, they had abstained from the Afghan border forces to renew or rebuild the controversial checkpoint, which the Afghan side knew as Zangali posta, closes the zero point.
Torakhum Customs Officials have said that the border closure was causing a loss of around $ 1.5 million daily, since exports to Afghanistan have stopped. In addition, an income of RS545m has been lost due to the suspension of Afghanistan imports.
Meanwhile, the sources of the Dosti hospital in Torkhum said they would receive from 70 to 80 patients daily from Afghanistan who arrive in Pakistan in valid visas for medical check -ups. The brief have said that bilateral trade and cross -border pedestrian movement are resumed soon.
Posted in Dawn, March 12, 2025
