Trade was halted Saturday at Torkham border crossing after strict implementation of passport requirement for Afghans entering Pakistan. The enforcement of a passport requirement for Afghan cargo vehicle drivers at the Torkham border crossing led to the suspension of commercial activities. Customs officials reported that vehicles lacking drivers with passports were prevented from entering Pakistan, causing a backlog of hundreds of cargo vehicles from Afghanistan. The Afghan authorities responded by blocking Pakistani vehicles carrying commercial goods from entering Afghanistan. Afghan security officials have demanded that Afghan drivers be exempted from the passport visa requirement. This development comes after the federal government imposed a visa requirement for cargo vehicle drivers entering from Afghanistan last year.

Due to difficulties in obtaining visas for Afghan drivers, the requirement was amended to only include a valid passport. The implementation of this passport condition has commenced today, leading to disruptions in trade activities on both sides of the Torkham border crossing. Pakistan said it would no longer allow Afghans to enter unless they had valid passports and visas, ending their ability to visit using only their national identity cards or driver’s licences. The tightening of trade rules has also affected Afghanistan-bound containers at Karachi port as authorities demand more tax and duty payments. The Pakistan government says it loses millions of dollars in taxes because goods are being sent duty-free from its ports to land-locked Afghanistan, and then smuggled back across the border. Afghan authorities say the hold-up has caused millions of dollars in losses to its traders.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)