LANDI KOTAL: Hundreds of trucks loaded with beds, cabinets and even household firewood lined the road from Pakistan’s mostly closed main border gateway into Afghanistan on Tuesday as Afghans pushed out of Pakistan prepared to cross.
Islamabad launched a deportation drive in recent years that has sent back hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan citizens, many of whom had made Pakistan home through decades of war.
Fraught relations that spiraled into armed conflict between the neighbors led to the crucial Torkham trade gateway being mostly closed since October. Officials told AFP that it re-opened for Afghan returnees last month.
Many said as they waited to cross on Tuesday that they hoped differences could be resolved peacefully to end a conflict that has killed hundreds and hampered deep economic and cultural ties shared by communities on both sides.
“If fighting starts on the border, it will become difficult for us and we will go back, and then we will face more difficulties,” Fida, a 28-year-old Afghan national near the crossing, told AFP.
Fighting has largely abated in recent weeks after China held mediation talks, but the United Nations recorded dozens of civilian casualties, including deaths, from strikes in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.
The Taliban government blamed the attacks on Pakistan, which denied the accusation.
Afghan families, including children, clutched documents at the mountainous border crossing and carried household essentials, such as thermoses and rice cookers, as they lined up for immigration checks.
However, the pace of processing their trucks, normally used to transport commercial goods but now laden with the rest of their belongings, struggled to keep up.
Around 1,000 of the brightly colored, ornately decorated trucks queued up along the roadside, with drivers resting under their vehicles to shelter during the long wait.
A Pakistani official posted at the border told AFP on condition of anonymity that around 4,000-6,000 Afghan returnees had been crossing each day since March.
“During this period, only their trucks carrying their belongings are allowed to pass into Afghanistan, while the trade route remains fully closed,” he said.
Businesses and locals on both sides of the border have expressed alarm at mounting financial losses due to stalled exports.
“It would be good if Pakistan and Afghanistan resolve the issue through talks with each other and pave the way for trade,” said Mattiullah, an Afghan living in Pakistan who was waiting to cross.
“This would be better for both neighboring countries.”
