Pakistan Reopens Key Border Point With Afghanistan After Months Of Closure

People wait to cross into Pakistan at the Spin Boldak border crossing in Afghanistan on July 22.

After a nine-month closure that incited violent protests by angry residents and traders, Islamabad on July 21 announced that it will reopen the Spin Boldak border crossing point in Chaman.

People make their way across the border in Chaman, located in Pakistan's Balochistan Province, on July 23. 

Islamabad in October 2023 unilaterally ended the century-old "Easement Rights," an arrangement that allowed members of Pashtun communities straddling the 19th-century Durand Line border to cross freely to trade and visit extended families. 

A Taliban security officer stands guard at the Spin Boldak border crossing on July 22.

Pashtun communities on both sides of the boundary argued that the border closing harmed their livelihoods and caused significant financial losses. 
 

Epa-EFE reported that visas and passports were still required to cross the border. Individuals using Afghan "tazkira" (national identity cards) were denied entry into Pakistan.

The Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing -- the second busiest border crossing on the Pakistani-Afghan border -- is approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Kandahar city, Afghanistan, and about 100 kilometers northwest of Quetta, Pakistan. It is a vital trade route.
 

Trucks wait to cross the border in Chaman.

On June 7, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators following the arrests of several activists involved in a sit-in demonstration demanding that restrictions be lifted at the border in Chaman. The clashes left at least 40 people injured, including 17 law enforcement personnel.
 

Pakistani officials said that the border restrictions were necessary to prevent militants from infiltrating Pakistan from Afghan soil.

A soldier checks documents of people crossing into Pakistan.

 

An officer checks documents of people crossing into Afghanistan at the border.