PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan on Saturday partially reopened the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan to permit 1000’s of stranded Afghan refugees to return residence, officers mentioned.

Restrictions stay on all different cross-border motion, together with commerce.

Pakistan closed all border crossings with Afghanistan on Oct. 12 following lethal clashes during which each side claimed to have killed dozens of troops.

The closure, which lasted almost three weeks, left 1000’s of Afghan refugees stranded together with tons of of vans carrying items, suspending key commerce routes between the 2 nations.

The reopening got here after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to take care of a ceasefire following almost weeklong negotiations facilitated by Turkey and Qatar aimed toward stopping a wider battle within the area.

Authorities mentioned no new alternate of fireplace has been reported because the ceasefire alongside the two,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border, generally known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has by no means formally acknowledged.

1000’s of Afghan refugees had been moved to a short lived camp close to the border, whereas tons of extra waited alongside the roadside for the crossing to reopen. Regardless of the partial reopening, commerce throughout the frontier stays suspended on each side.

Native officers on the Afghan facet instructed The Related Press that the gate was reopened Saturday morning solely for Afghan refugees, with 1000’s anticipated to cross again into Afghanistan all through the day.

They urged all different vacationers to chorus from utilizing the crossing till additional discover.

A video launched by the Info and Tradition Division of Afghanistan’s jap Nangarhar province confirmed native officers and Afghan troopers standing on the Torkham gate holding flowers to welcome returning refugees as they crossed again into their nation.

The event got here a day after Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Ahmad Shakeeb, wrote on X that enormous numbers of Afghan refugees remained stranded due to Pakistan’s closure of border crossings.

On Friday, Pakistani International Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi mentioned the Afghan ambassador had violated diplomatic norms by airing his grievances on social media as an alternative of speaking by way of Pakistan’s International Ministry.

Since 2023, Pakistan has launched a marketing campaign to deport immigrants dwelling illegally within the nation. Greater than 1,000,000 Afghans have been repatriated as a part of the hassle.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s army mentioned it carried out airstrikes on the hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan, killing dozens of individuals it described as insurgents. Afghan officers denied the declare, saying civilians have been among the many lifeless, and mentioned Afghan forces had struck Pakistani army posts in retaliation, killing 58 troopers. Pakistan’s army acknowledged shedding 23 troops within the preventing.

The violence prompted Qatar to ask delegations from each side to Doha, the place they agreed to a ceasefire on Oct. 19. It was adopted by six days of talks in Istanbul that continued till Thursday night time, when the 2 sides agreed to take care of the truce.

Pakistan has seen a pointy rise in militant assaults in latest months, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, generally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The group, designated a terrorist group by each the USA and the United Nations, is separate from the Afghan Taliban however has been emboldened by the Afghan group’s takeover of Kabul in 2021.