Pakistan to temporarily reopen border with Afghanistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan has announced it will temporarily reopen its border with neighboring Afghanistan to provide an opportunity to hundreds of citizens stranded on both sides for more than two weeks.

In a statement released Monday, the Foreign Ministry said: “Pakistan has decided to open the border crossings at Torkham and Chaman on March 7 [Tuesday] and March 8 [Wednesday] in order to provide an opportunity to Afghan nationals who came to Pakistan on valid visas, and now wish to return to their country.”

The crossing points, the statement added, would also be open on these two days to Pakistanis who went to Afghanistan on valid visas and now wish to return.

The decision had been conveyed by Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistani premier on foreign affairs, to Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhiwal, who said last week his country may send chartered flights to airlift stranded Afghans if the border was not reopened soon.

On Feb. 17, Pakistan unilaterally closed its border with Afghanistan, commonly known as the Durand Line, “due to security reasons” following a spate of terror attacks, including a suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in southern Sehwan that left 90 people dead. Pakistani officials including the military high-ups blamed the attacks on “Afghanistan-based terrorists”.

Kabul had rejected Islamabad’s claim, terming the border closure “unjustified” that was allegedly aimed at hurting common Afghans.

Afghanistan does not recognize the Durand Line -- a 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) long border, which was established in 1893 in line with an agreement between British India, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the then ruler of Afghanistan.

Earlier Monday, Pakistan lodged a strong protest with the Afghan government over the killing of five Pakistani soldiers in its northern Mohmand Agency and another soldier in Khyber Agency tribal regions by terrorists allegedly based in Afghanistan Sunday.

According to Pakistani Foreign Ministry’s statement, the Afghan deputy head of mission was called to the ministry in the capital Islamabad to express Pakistan's "grave concern over the incident".

"The Afghan government was urged to thoroughly investigate the incidents and take firm action against terrorists operating from its soil to prevent recurrence of such incidents," it said.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group, said to be an ally of Pakistani Taliban's coalition -- Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan -- claimed responsibility for the two attacks. ​