Pak-Afghan border clashes ease, thousands seek shelter

Overnight clashes between Pakistani and Afghan security forces at the main border crossing between the countries caused thousands of people to flee their homes but the situation had calmed down by Tuesday morning, residents and officials said.

The conflict started on Monday, the first working day of Ramadan, when food imports from Pakistan usually peak in Afghanistan.

Around 15,000 local residents fled to Landi Kotal due to the clashes, an official said.

Afghan border guards had opened fire without warning, targeting government buildings and civilians, and causing widespread panic.

“The tensions between the two countries and continuous closure of the border has been causing multiple problems to the people of the border area. People are very poor and dependent on their businesses related to the border,” Ali Shinwari, who lives in the border town, told reporters.

Relatives and tribesmen in a nearby town have been hosting dozens of relatives since the border closure, he added.

The Torkham crossing has been shut since Feb.21 due to a dispute over the construction of a border-area outpost by Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

The Taliban-run Afghan Interior Ministry said on Monday one Taliban fighter was killed and two injured, while Pakistani security officials reported that members of their forces had also been wounded.

The Torkham crossing is the main transit artery for travellers and goods between Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan. Trade between the countries was worth over $1.6 billion in 2024, according to Pakistan’s foreign office.

The closure has stranded 5,000 trucks filled with essential goods and caused at least $15 million in losses, said Yousaf Afridi, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries for Pakistan’s Khyber district where the Torkham crossing is located.

Yousaf Afridi said the closure had caused at least $15 million in losses.

It could exacerbate the challenges confronting the Afghan economy, which has teetered near crisis since the Taliban took over in 2021, leading to a cut in development aid and sanctions affecting the banking sector that has hampered businesses.

In a separate development, a separatist group claimed an attack that killed one soldier, which officials said was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

The attacker targeted a convoy of paramilitary troops on Monday in southwestern Balochistan province, where security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is fighting for the province’s independence, said in a statement that it “conducted a special mission successfully targeting the vehicle” in Kalat district.

It did not mention the gender of the bomber.

Local government official Bilal Shabbir told reporters that “at least one Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was killed, and four others were injured when a female suicide bomber targeted an FC convoy.”

Women suicide bombers are rare in Pakistan but the BLA, the most active group in the region, has carried out attacks with women militants in the past.

The group has targeted energy projects with foreign financing — most notably from China — accusing the authorities of exploiting the resource-rich but impoverished region.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, including 685 members of the police or security forces, according to the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies.

The violence is largely limited to the country’s border regions with Afghanistan, with attacks in major cities increasingly rare.

In November, separatists claimed responsibility for a bombing at Quetta’s main railway station that killed at least 26 people, including 14 soldiers.

Agencies