Chaos as key Afghan-Pak border crossing closed

dpa Islamabad A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been closed, according to border officials and media reports, leaving trade suspe...

dpa IslamabadA key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been closed, according to border officials and media reports, leaving trade suspended and hundreds of travellers stranded.“The Afghan side sealed the border without any advance notice,” a Pakistani border security officer from Chaman told dpa on Tuesday.The Chaman crossing links Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan with Spin Boldak in the Afghan province of Kandahar, the birthplace and stronghold of the Taliban.They put down cement blocks as a barrier on the Afghan side on Monday, the border official said.However, Afghanistan’s state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday that Pakistani authorities had closed the border.Citing a statement from the Kandahar governor’s office, Bakhtar said that efforts by Taliban officials to keep the Spin Boldak crossing open have not been successful.There was no official comment from the Taliban side.Spin Boldak had fallen to the Taliban in July and they started collecting taxes after taking control of the border crossing.Pakistani authorities say that they were assessing the situation. The border closure comes as trade between the two neighbours started picking up after the fall of Kabul.More than 1,200 freight trucks carrying goods from both the countries crossed the border on Sunday.Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, said more trucks with Afghan goods were entering Pakistan than Pakistani trucks with exports going to Afghanistan.Half of Pakistan’s around 2.5-billion-dollar annual exports to Afghanistan pass through the Chaman crossing, according to Zubair Motiwala, a trader affiliated with Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PAJCCI).Torkham, the second major border crossing that links the north-western city of Peshawar with Nangarhar in Afghanistan, is operational.