The Torkham border crossing was reopened as of 6am Saturday for both civilians and traders. The announcement sparked joy and relief among those who had been waiting for the reopening of the international trade route since Sunday, when the Taliban shuttered it, alleging that Islamabad was denying Afghan migrants entry into Pakistan for medical care.
The closure of the key transit point between the countries left people and trucks carrying essential supplies and food stranded. However, the usual trade and movement of people between Pakistan and Afghanistan has now fully resumed after the two sides reopened the key border crossing.
A Pakistani customs official stated that trucks carrying rice, cement, construction materials, medicines and other edibles were sent to Afghanistan, whereas lorries loaded with coal, vegetables and fruit had entered Pakistan.
After the visit of Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and secret service chief Nadeem Anjum to Kabul on Wednesday, the crossing was briefly reopened by the Afghan Taliban to allow some of the thousands of trucks that had lined up for days at the border – many with vegetables, fruits and other perishable food items – to cross and ease the backlog.