PESHAWAR: The Torkham border which was closed for several hours by the Pakistani authorities after the Taliban took control of Nangarhar province on Sunday was reopened for trade vehicles on Monday.
Sources in Customs said after the reopening Torkham Gate, stranded export and transit vehicles were cleared and sent to Afghanistan.
Mohammadullah, a truck driver said that delivering goods in Afghanistan has become very a challenging task during the transition of power in the war torn country.
Khyber Khan, another driver who transports fresh fruit from Afghanistan, said that there are hundreds of freight vehicles on the road from Kabul to Torkham at present.
He said most of the vehicles are facing problems due to customs clearance whereas there is no staff on the Afghan side of the border to clear goods due to Taliban’s take over there.
Niaz Mohammad, an exporter, said that the current situation has incurred a severe blow to Pak-Afghan trade as Pakistani traders aren’t takimg the risk of supplying goods to Afghan markets. He said this situation Kabul will order goods from other countries in these circumstances 4hst can replace Pakistani goods.
According to sources, vehicles with import goods from Afghanistan with Fresh Fruit, Vegetable and Dry Fort were also allowed to enter Pakistan. After the Taliban captured Nangarhar, the Pak-Afghan border Torkham was completely closed for all kinds of traffic and pedestrians. After the closure of Torkham, a heavy contingent of Pakistan Security Forces has been deployed at Torkham gate in which Pakistan Army troops, FC, police personnel have been alerted.
