Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Khan on Monday said that an agreement had been reached with Afghan authorities to reopen the Chaman-Spin Boldak border from Tuesday, nearly a month after the border crossing was closed for pedestrians and trade by the Taliban, local media reported.
"As a result of a meeting between border authorities, Afghanistan and Pakistan have decided to open [the] Chaman-Boldak crossing from tomorrow for pedestrians as well as trade. The two sides will now look forward to ensuring smooth operations of the important border crossing," Dawn quoted Khan as saying.
The envoy said he had recently called on Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and, among other issues, they had discussed the need for opening the Boldak-Chaman crossing at the earliest, ensuring the facilitation of cross-border movement of people and trade vehicles on both sides, especially because it was the fruit harvest season in Afghanistan, said the Pakistani publication.
"We also had discussions about following up on the recent visit of the foreign minister of Pakistan to Kabul, which was extremely productive. We remain closely engaged with Afghan authorities for facilitating the movement of people at all border crossings," he said.
According to a senior member of the Chaman Chamber of Commerce, Usman Achakzai, the decision to reopen the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing was taken at a meeting held on the Afghan side of the border on Monday morning, Dawn reported.
The Taliban government's deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi also confirmed to Dawn that both sides had reached an understanding that passengers should not face difficulties.
"Similarly, imports and exports via Chaman-Spin Boldak should continue without any hurdles. Both sides have also agreed that there should be no problem in the transit trade. We have held discussions on the issue and I am confident that a permanent solution will be found out," Karimi said.
The Taliban had closed the key crossing along the frontier with Afghanistan in Balochistan on October 5, claiming that "traders, patients and passengers were facing difficulties [at the border]", Dawn reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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