Major Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Crossings Shut Down Following Deadly Clashes

The main border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the critical Torkham in the northwest and Chaman in the southwest, have been closed for a second consecutive day, effectively severing key trade and transit routes following a severe escalation in cross-border hostilities. The closure, enforced by Pakistani authorities, has stranded hundreds of people and dozens of fully loaded commercial vehicles, raising immediate concerns about bilateral trade and the humanitarian flow into landlocked Afghanistan.

The border shutdown comes directly in the wake of deadly, sustained clashes over the weekend, which marked one of the sharpest military escalations between the neighbors in recent years. The fighting was triggered after Pakistan conducted airstrikes on Afghan territory earlier in the week, an action Islamabad has neither confirmed nor denied, but which was reportedly aimed at militant leaders of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Afghan forces subsequently launched what they termed "retaliatory operations" against Pakistani military posts along the 2,600 kilometer border. While Pakistan’s military reported the loss of 23 soldiers and claimed to have killed over 200 "Taliban and affiliated terrorists," Afghan officials countered with a claim that their forces had killed as many as 58 Pakistani soldiers.

The primary focus now rests on the paralyzed border crossings. Torkham, a vital artery for the movement of goods and people between Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Afghanistan's Nangarhar, and Chaman, linking Balochistan province to Kandahar, are completely sealed. Local officials and trade representatives report that the halt has stopped millions of dollars worth of daily transit trade, with trucks carrying essential goods, including food and other imports, stuck on both sides of the frontier. The closure is also having a severe humanitarian impact, stranding a large number of Afghan nationals, including refugees, who had been waiting to cross. Diplomatic pressure from Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is now being brought to bear on both sides, urging immediate de-escalation and the resumption of dialogue to restore calm and reopen the essential transit corridors.

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