bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Nearly three months since border clashes prompted the closure of land crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan, university students, merchants and families are left hanging with no way of getting back.
“We miss our parents and relatives,” said Shah Faisal, 25, who studies medicine at an Afghan university and was hoping to visit his family back in Pakistan during winter break.
But the border has been shut since October 12, leaving many like him with no viable option of making it home.
Flights are prohibitively expensive, and smuggling routes come at too great a risk.
A student representative said there were around 500 to 600 Pakistanis at universities in one Afghan province alone, Nangarhar, who were looking for a way back.

Shah Fahad Amjad, 22, who attends medical school in the provincial capital Jalalabad, called on “both countries to open the road” and let students visit their families.
As the border closure drags on, some are also concerned about their visa status or financial situation.
The crisis has caused problems “for us, who are students in Afghanistan, but also for Afghans who are students in Pakistan”, said 23-year-old Barkat Ullah Wazir, who studies in Jalalabad.
The colonial-era border between the South Asian neighbours stretches more than 2,600km (1,600 miles) across mountainous terrain.
Known as the Durand Line, it is normally a conduit between the Pakistanis and Afghans who live near it and share deep cultural, economic and even family ties.
It also divides Pashtun communities who live on either side – the ethnic group from which the Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul in 2021, draws much of its support.
Overstaying welcome
The border has remained largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people, with the exception of Afghan refugees and migrants Pakistan has expelled.
Islamabad accused Kabul of harbouring militant groups that launch attacks on Pakistani soil, allegations that the Afghan Taliban denies.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement, and both sides have warned fighting could still resume.
Pakistani shopkeeper Ehsanullah Himmat, 21, had travelled to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar with his family to attend a relative’s wedding, but “now we cannot go back to our home”, he said.
“Fighting broke out, the road was closed,” he said, turning the planned two-day trip into a lengthy ordeal with no end in sight.
“We cannot go via smuggling routes, and other routes exist but they are very long and cost a lot of money” that the family cannot afford, he said.
Now “it is cold, it’s winter, and we are displaced with our children”, Himmat said.
Relatives in Afghanistan have hosted the family, but he said he felt a sense of “embarrassment” for overstaying their welcome.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that nearly 1,200 people had approached its embassy in Kabul requesting help to return home, including 549 students.
Just over 300 people had flown back by the end of December, according to the ministry.
Neither government has given any clear signal about when or under what conditions the border could reopen.
At the Spin Boldak crossing point, the road leading into Pakistan is blocked.
Truck driver Khan Muhammad, 39, has been there for weeks on end, unable to work or return to his city of Quetta, about 100km (62 miles) from the border.
“In these 2½ months I haven’t loaded even a single kilo of cargo. Work has come to a standstill,” he said.
“All our livelihoods depend on this gate,” he said, hoping the border would reopen soon.
When it does, “everyone will be able to return to their homes”, he said.


Why US tariff deal cannot sever India-Russia defence ties: ‘structural reality’

Why China and Europe should care about Central Asia’s water crisis

Hong Kong to formulate first 5-year plan to align with national blueprint

5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, January 30-February 1

Central Asia

Afghanistan-Pakistan border closure leaves thousands stranded: ‘we miss our parents’

A Taliban security personnel stands guard near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossing at the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province on Monday. Photo: AFP

A man sits outside an auto parts shop at a market near the Afghanistan-Pakistan  border in Spin Boldak. Photo: AFP

A Taliban security personnel inspects an unexploded shell in a residential area in the frontier district of Spin Boldak on December 6. Photo: AFP

Can mediators stop Afghan-Pakistani war as ‘cat-and-mouse game’ enters retaliatory phase?

Residents clear debris from houses destroyed in air strikes in Khost, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Afghan residents stand near remnants of a mortar shell at a house damaged by an air strike in Jige Mughalgai, Khost province, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

A Pakistani serviceman arrives at the site of a suicide attack outside the border force headquarters in Peshawar on Monday. Photo: AFP

A child looks out from a tent provided by China for returning Afghan families in Kabul on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

India, Afghanistan close ranks against Pakistan, marking South Asia power shift

Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi, Afghanistan’s minister of commerce and industry, during a week-long visit to New Delhi on Monday. Photo: AFP

An Afghan man walks near a damaged house after an alleged Pakistani air strike in Kunar province on Tuesday. Islamabad has denied carrying out any attacks. Photo: AFP

People search the debris of damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake in Samangan province, Afghanistan, on November 3. India has provided Afghanistan with humanitarian help in times of crisis. Photo: Reuters

India-Pakistan conflict risks surge amid terror attacks, Afghan proxy war claims

Pakistani counterterrorism commandos stand guard at the site of a suicide blast outside a court in Islamabad on Tuesday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS/AFP

Pakistani soldiers stand guard at the cadet college that was attacked by suspected militants near the Afghan border in Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan, on Thursday. Photo: EPA

5 killed in latest clash at Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossing

A mortar lies on the ground near a damaged house in Chaman on Saturday, following overnight cross-border fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

A Pakistani armoured vehicle stands at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman on Saturday, following overnight cross-border clashes between the two countries. Photo: AFP

A man sits next to the bloodstained floor inside his damaged house in Chaman on Saturday, following overnight cross-border fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

Afghan boy, 13, executes family’s murderer in echoes of worst days of Taliban rule

A Taliban policeman looks on as a crowd heads toward a stadium to attend the public execution on Tuesday. Photo: AP

News

World

Russia & Central Asia

The colonial-era Durand Line has been largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people


The colonial-era Durand Line has been largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people.


Afghanistan-Pakistan border closure leaves thousands stranded: ‘we miss our parents’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The colonial-era Durand Line has been largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people

The colonial-era Durand Line has been largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people