Torkham crossing opens to trucks and visa holders

Islamic Emirate Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said Friday that for now, the Torkham border crossing into Pakistan is open only to trucks and those with passports and visas.

According to him, people “who do not have passports and visas, whether they are adults or children, are not allowed to cross over to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (in Pakistan)” and will be sent home.

Balkhi said: “The relevant officials of the Islamic Emirate are trying to create more facilities in this regard.”

This comes after the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Kabul.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the increase of economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the resumption of civilian flights between Kabul and Islamabad, the increase of economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and keeping Spin Boldak, Torkham and Ghulam Khan border crossings open 24 hours a day.

Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund in turn called the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan historic and said that he hoped that Pakistan would prove its commitments in practice.