At An Impasse: Pakistani-Afghan Border Still Closed As Tensions Rise

A man takes a nap under a truck near the Pakistani-Afghan border at Torkham on September 11. 

Hundreds of trucks and travelers were left stranded a week into the closure of the border, after a gunfight erupted across the frontier that left a Taliban guard and an Afghan civilian dead on September 6.

A Humvee is seen near the closed gates of the Torkham border crossing.

Pakistan defended its decision to close its main border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan, saying Taliban authorities there were trying to build "unlawful structures" on its territory and "resorted to indiscriminate firing" when challenged.




 

Trucks are seen lined up near the border.

The same day as the firefight, the Pakistani military said four soldiers had been killed in clashes with militants in the northwestern Chitral district, which borders eastern Afghanistan. 

Afghan women sit along a road on September 11 as they wait for the reopening of the border crossing.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group, which is believed to be based in Afghanistan, said in a September 6 statement that a large number of its fighters had entered Chitral. 

Trucks are seen parked at the border.

The border clashes have highlighted the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, longtime allies who have fallen out over the Afghan militant group's alleged support for the TTP.

 

Truck drivers and young children drink tea near their parked vehicles.

Pakistan is in the grip of an economic downturn, while Afghanistan is facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis under the leadership of the Taliban, which took control in mid-2021. 

Armed Taliban security personal stand guard near the historic border crossing on September 6 after travel was suspended.

Pakistan was one of only three countries to grant formal recognition to the previous Taliban government of 1996–2001. This time, Pakistan, like all other countries, has withheld recognition.

Taliban security personnel keep watch at a post near Torkham on September 11.

The Taliban disputes the demarcation, while Islamabad says it inherited the international border after gaining independence from Britain in 1947.