{"id":47483,"date":"2024-01-13T17:54:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/pak-afghan-trade-at-torkham-border-stops-over-visa-dispute-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-13T17:54:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:54:07","slug":"pak-afghan-trade-at-torkham-border-stops-over-visa-dispute-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pak-afghan-trade-at-torkham-border-stops-over-visa-dispute-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Pak-Afghan trade at Torkham border stops over visa dispute | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nKABUL:
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The busiest frontier crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been closed to trade in the latest row over document rules for commercial vehicle drivers crossing the border.<\/p>\n

Crossings between the two countries have been temporarily shut in recent months after Islamabad last year launched a massive operation against undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan and tightened document requirements for Afghans entering the country.<\/p>\n

Both sides blamed the other for the latest shutdown at the Torkham crossing, which started late Friday night, according to officials on either side of the border.<\/p>\n

“Torkham is closed to commercial truck drivers without visas from Pakistani authorities,” Afghan border official Abdul Jabbar Hekmat said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

Pakistani officials on Saturday denied a visa requirement had been imposed, saying the border had been shut when Afghan counterparts were informed truck drivers could only cross with a valid passport, a document many Afghans do not have.<\/p>\n

“Following our updated policy, Afghan officials were informed last night that cargo drivers will only be allowed to enter our side if they possess a passport,” a Pakistani customs official told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0Pakistan-Afghanistan trade reaches stalemate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

He said this regulation had been agreed in past meetings between Afghan and Pakistani authorities on border rules.<\/p>\n

“However, rather than adhering to the previously agreed-upon regulations, the Afghan border officials opted to close down border trade.”<\/p>\n

Hundreds of trucks had been stranded at the crossing, a Pakistani security official told AFP<\/em>, adding that the border was still open to pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Pakistan and Afghanistan have had increasingly fraught relations in recent months, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban government of failing to root out militants staging attacks on Pakistan from Afghan soil — a claim Kabul has denied.<\/p>\n

The Torkham crossing — equidistant between the capitals Islamabad and Kabul — was frequently shut last year, with tensions sometimes spilling over into armed clashes between border guards across the frontier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n