Trade activity at Torkham border resumes

LANDIKOTAL: On the third day of the Taliban takeover, Pakistan and Afghan border authorities on Tuesday relaxed the Torkham border crossing rules and resumed trade activities.

The officials said a good number of trucks loaded with transit and import and export goods crossed the border. They said Pakistanis and Afghans were allowed to travel to their respective countries.

Meanwhile, Nangarhar province Taliban Governor Nida Muhammad Kandahari visited the Torkham border where he was briefed about the responsibilities of the relevant officials.

A source from the Afghan side of the border told this correspondent that the Taliban governor showed satisfaction over the arrangements and business activities via the Torkham border with Pakistan. He said Nida Muhammad directed his fellow Taliban to ensure timely transportation of goods from and to Pakistan. Truckers seemed happy over the new setup at the Torkham border.

Drivers said after a long time they were not asked to pay bribes as officials in the Ashraf Ghani-led government would extort money from them. Wazir Jan, an Afghan truck driver, said they were happy over the Taliban takeover. He said ex-Afghan government employees at Torkham offices would charge them up to Rs15,000 per truck while the Taliban completely abolished extra taxes.

The driver said the Taliban swiftly processed the documents of the trucks that saved their time and money. He said only nominal Afghan government tax was paid and they entered Pakistan.

Wazir Jan said in the past they had to wait for days to get clearance for crossing the border and that too after paying the money. The Pakistan Customs officials also observed a change in the goods transportation from and to Afghanistan. They said as compared to last week 30 percent of import and export transportation increased in the past three days.

A Customs official on the condition of anonymity told this scribe that 723 loaded trucks crossed the border from and to Pakistan in the past 24 hours. He said gradually traders of Pakistan and Afghanistan were being encouraged to boost business activities via the Torkham border.

The official said they observed swift trucks documentation process by Taliban setup in Afghan Customs House. He said they expected more increase in trade activities with Afghanistan via the Torkham border.