17 March 2017

News Story: Torkham To Re-Open For Trade, Says Pakistan Minister

Pakistan’s Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir said Tuesday that the Torkham gate crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan will re-open soon.

Although Dastgir did not specify a date that the crossings would re-open, Pakistan media quoted a local government official, senator Taj Muhammad Afridi, as having said Torkham will be reopened for trade from next week.

Islamabad closed the crossings last month due to security concerns following a deadly blast at a shrine in Sindh province, which left at least 75 people dead.

This decision was then followed by a number of missile attacks into eastern Afghanistan by Pakistan.

This week however, Dastgir expressed hope that recent talks in London between Haneef Atmar, the National Security Advisor for President Ashraf Ghani, and the Pakistani Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, would prove to be helpful in resolving the outstanding issues between the two countries.

Read the full story at TOLOnews