Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing reopens after talks between Pak, Taliban

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 14 (ANI): The Pak-Afghan border crossing at Chaman that the Taliban had closed last week, has reopened.

This decision was taken following a meeting between Pakistani and Taliban officials, Dawn newspaper reported. The transit trade and import and export of goods has resumed which had remained suspended for over a week.

“After negotiations with the Taliban the border has been reopened,” a senior official of the Chaman administration told Dawn.

On Friday, reports had emerged that Pakistani forces fired tear gas and clashed with the Afghans protesting at the Chaman border over the Taliban’s closure of the border area.

The clashes broke out after a 56-year-old Afghan traveller died of a heart attack as he waited in the dusty heat to enter Afghanistan via the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing.

Protesters carried his body to a local Pakistani government office demanding the border be reopened. Some began throwing stones at security forces, who responded by firing tear gas and charging the protesters with batons to disperse them.

On August 6, the Taliban had announced the closure of the border as Islamabad had ended the visa-free travel for Afghan people. The terror group last month captured the Chaman crossing through its aggressive offensive against the Afghan government forces.

The Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing is Afghanistan’s second busiest entry point and main commercial artery to Pakistan. Before the seizure of the border by the Taliban, nearly 900 trucks used to pass through the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing daily. (ANI)