Pakistan’s Quetta / Islamabad — Pakistan reopened its main Southwestern border crossing with Afghanistan, now under Taliban control, on the Afghan side, allowing more than 100 trucks carrying goods to reach Afghanistan. Said.
The Chaman-Spinboldak intersection, the main port of Afghanistan in the landlocked country, has been closed by Pakistan for commercial traffic since the fierce battle over control of the intersection between Taliban terrorists and Afghan security forces broke out earlier this month. Was there.
“Pakistan opened its border with Afghanistan in Chaman today and resumed Afghanistan’s transit trade, which had been suspended since last month,” Alif Kakar, a senior official in the Chaman border district, told Reuters.
He said it stays open six days a week.
Two Pakistani customs officials demanded anonymity, and Spinboldak and the border town of Wesh are still under Taliban control, who will buy goods through customs, what arrangements are being made across the border. He told Reuters he didn’t know if he was cleaning up.
They said Pakistani authorities were under pressure from traders to let trucks pass because the goods they were carrying would otherwise be destroyed.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior and Treasury, and a Taliban spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Admiral Kenneth Mackenzie of the U.S. Central Command, who oversees the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul on Sunday that Spin Boldak is a “disputed space” and the Afghan government aims to regain control. Said that.
Resumption is the number of 46 Afghan soldiers sought refuge in Pakistan after losing control of their military position further north along the border following Taliban terrorist advancement using the withdrawal of foreign troops. Happened after hours.
Pakistani troops in a statement requested that Afghan commanders evacuate to the northern Chitral border crossing and were given a safe passage to Pakistan on Sunday night after obtaining permission from Afghan authorities. Said it was done.
Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and civil servants have fled to neighboring Tajikistan, Iran and Pakistan in recent weeks after the Taliban attack in the border area.
“Afghan soldiers have been provided with food, shelter, and necessary medical care in accordance with established military norms,” the statement said.
Relations between neighboring countries Afghanistan and Pakistan have fallen sharply in recent weeks, especially over Kabul’s recurring claims that Pakistan supports the Taliban. Islamabad denies it.
Afghanistan recalled diplomats from Pakistan after briefly abducting the daughter of the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad earlier this month.
Afghan authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the soldiers’ intersection.
The Taliban have escalated the attack since the United States announced in April that it would withdraw its troops by September and end its 20-year presence of foreign troops.
Washington said it would continue to carry out airstrikes to assist Afghan troops in the face of rebel attacks.
Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have failed to make substantial progress since its inception in September last year.
Afghan troops have been freed from battlefield defeats and are reviewing their war strategies to focus their troops on key areas such as Kabul and other cities and border crossings.
Pakistani troops said soldiers seeking evacuation would be returned to Afghanistan after due process, as was the case with another group of 35 soldiers in early July.
By Gul You safzai and Asif Shahzad