Pakistan has temporarily closed a key crossing with Afghanistan amid fears of refugee influx after Taliban overthrew its government last month. Sources told Geo News that the Chaman border crossing – the second-largest commercial border point with Afghanistan after Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – has been closed due to security threats. According to Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Chaman crossing may be closed for a few days due to security threats.
‘We will close the Chaman crossing for a while,’ he said, without specifying how long the border would be closed. According to him, ‘there was calm along the border. Our forces are present at the border. We are proud of our security institutions for the service they are rendering for the security of the country’. Pakistan wants peace and stability in Afghanistan, noting that peace in Afghanistan is vital for Pakistani peace.
The crossing connects Pakistan’s border town of Chaman with Spin Boldak in the Afghan province of Kandahar and is used by Afghans as well as for trade between the two countries. Security officials report that tens of thousands of Afghans have gathered around the border crossing to slip into Pakistan, which has already stated it is not able to take in any more refugees.
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Pakistan is currently hosting about 3 million Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived there for over three decades, since the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. According to Pakistani officials, if border regulations are lessened, an additional million people will rush into the country. At the moment, over 90 percent of Pakistan’s over 2,500-kilometer border with Afghanistan is fenced and only about a dozen crossing points permit entry by those with valid travel documents.
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