Over 7,000 trucks with essential items, including fruit, vegetables, and poultry products, are stuck at the Torkham border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an industry body said on Friday.
According to the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), the vehicles have remained stranded since last weekend, when the key trade route was closed by Afghan authorities.
Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, the director of PAJCCI, said that traders were suffering huge losses due to the closure of the border post at Torkham.
"The closure of the border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been causing losses to traders of the two countries. There are long queues of heavy trucks stranded on both sides of the border," local Pakistani media cited him as saying.
The Torkham junction opened briefly on Thursday following a hush-hush visit by Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Nadeem Ahmed to Kabul on Tuesday.
However, the border gate was subsequently closed a few hours later. Afghan authorities then claimed it was Pakistani officials who shut the border gate this time.
"The Torkham gate has been closed by the Pakistani side after it was opened today by the officials of the Islamic Emirate," the media wing of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province posted on Twitter.
Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, the director of PAJCCI, said that traders were suffering huge losses due to the closure of the border post at Torkham.
"The closure of the border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been causing losses to traders of the two countries. There are long queues of heavy trucks stranded on both sides of the border," local Pakistani media cited him as saying.
The Torkham junction opened briefly on Thursday following a hush-hush visit by Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Nadeem Ahmed to Kabul on Tuesday.
However, the border gate was subsequently closed a few hours later. Afghan authorities then claimed it was Pakistani officials who shut the border gate this time.
"The Torkham gate has been closed by the Pakistani side after it was opened today by the officials of the Islamic Emirate," the media wing of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province posted on Twitter.
The controversial closure of the Torkham border post comes at a time when ties between the Afghan Taliban* and the Pakistani government have experienced bitterness over the issue of cross-border terrorism following a spate of militant attacks in Pakistan. Meanwhile, as per a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Office, the Taliban earlier promised not to allow Afghan soil to become a hotbed for terrorist activities aimed at Islamabad.
The Taliban, for its part, has accused Pakistan of reneging on its promise of allowing Afghans to visit the neighboring country for medical purposes through the Torkham border, something they allege that Islamabad has denied to its citizens in recent days.
However, the recent visit by top Pakistani officials appears to have given hope that the once close allies will soon find a resolution to their differences, including the reopening of the Torkham border.
*under UN sanctions for terrorism