ISLAMABAD, 23 February 2006 — Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed in principle yesterday to start a cross-border bus service with trial runs beginning next month, officials said.
Transport officials from both countries may sign a formal agreement today, said Firdus Alam, a senior official from Pakistan’s Communication Ministry.
The bus service would link the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar with Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.
The service is scheduled to start on March 20, said Mohammed Hashim Waiz, the head of the Afghan delegation at the talks.
The two countries will discuss starting another bus service between the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta and Kandahar in southern Afghanistan after looking at the outcome of the Peshawar-Jalalabad route, Alam said.
Fresh round of talks between the two neigboring coutries to settle down modalities for Quetta-Kandhar Bus service will be held in Kabul. Pakistan is home to millions of Afghan refugees, and illegal border crossings are common.
