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Torkham border reopens for pedestrians

Over 4,000 Afghans crossed back into Afghanistan on Saturday, including 1,900 with valid passports

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Torkham border
Thousands of Afghan nationals crossed back into Afghanistan through Torkham crossing on Saturday after having been stranded for weeks in Pakistan due to the border closure. 
 
Officials on both sides reopened the border to pedestrians on Saturday, after Pakistan shut the crossing on February 21 amid clashes between border forces. 
 
Pakistani immigration officials told local media on Sunday that over 4,000 Afghans crossed back into Afghanistan on Saturday, including 1,900 with valid passports. Dawn reported that a further 2,150 were deported.
 
In contrast, 1,100 Pakistanis returned home.
 
Pakistan officials meanwhile reportedly had to process each person manually as the online immigration system had been damaged during cross-border clashes between the Pakistani and Afghan forces on March 3 and 4. 
 
Dawn news reported that according to Pakistani authorities, only Afghans with valid visas stamped in their passports would be allowed to enter or exit Pakistan, while those carrying only Tazkiras (Afghan national identity cards) would be barred from crossing in either direction.
 
The restriction left hundreds of Afghans disappointed, especially those who had been waiting for weeks for the border to reopen. 
 
The reopening of the border comes after multiple rounds of talks between jirga members from both countries. Last week they reached an agreement and reopened the crossing to trade on Tuesday. 
 
Since then, trade activities at the border have picked up. 
 
Customs officials told Dawn that in the past two days, 740 vehicles carrying coal, soapstone and dry fruits entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. 
 
In contrast, around 450 export vehicles, including 133 Afghan Transit Trade Goods carriers, crossed into Afghanistan.

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Khalilzad warns Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions likely to worsen after fresh airstrikes

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Former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has warned that the latest Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan and recent violence inside Pakistan are part of a wider crisis, saying he sees no indication that the situation is about to change.

In a post on X on Thursday, Khalilzad described the Pakistani airstrikes that have killed Afghan civilians and the increasing use of force against civilians in Pakistan as “interconnected tragedies,” implying both effected by Pakistan’s establishment.

“Unfortunately, I do not see any signs of change,” Khalilzad said, adding that current indicators suggested the use of force against Pakistanis would “likely get worse” in the coming days.

His comments came after Pakistan carried out a new wave of airstrikes inside Afghanistan overnight Thursday, saying it had targeted 10 locations used to launch and store drones.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes were conducted in response to drones launched from Afghan territory a day earlier and described them as “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate.”

Afghan officials said the strikes killed four civilians. The attacks reportedly hit locations including Kandahar, Khost and Paktia provinces. Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate authorities have denied launching the drones cited by Pakistan and have condemned the strikes.

The latest attacks follow Pakistani airstrikes earlier this week in Kunar and Paktika. Pakistan said those operations killed 28 militants, while the United Nations confirmed that three Afghan civilians — a man, a woman and a girl — were killed, with four others injured.

The renewed airstrikes come amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from its territory and launch attacks inside Pakistan.

Afghan authorities reject the allegations and say militancy inside Pakistan is an internal issue.

Khalilzad has previously called for a change in Pakistan’s strategy toward both its internal security problems and Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan summons Pakistani chargé d’affaires over latest airstrikes

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Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires to Kabul and lodged a strong protest against the violation of Afghan airspace and Pakistani military airstrikes on several Afghan provinces.

The ministry handed the Pakistani diplomat a formal protest note following the attacks on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Wednesday night, which reportedly caused civilian casualties.

The Islamic Emirate strongly condemned the strikes, calling them a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and contrary to Islamic, international, humanitarian and good-neighborly principles.

The ministry also rejected what it called baseless claims that Afghan territory was being used as a source of Pakistan’s recent security incidents.

It said using such claims to justify military action was an attempt to distort facts, mislead public opinion and conceal Pakistan’s internal failures.

The Islamic Emirate further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of avoiding commitments made to regional countries and warned that such actions could further escalate tensions in the region.

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Museum dedicated to preserving ‘Jihadi’ artefacts opens in Kandahar

The museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.

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A museum dedicated to preserving what Afghan authorities describe as “Jihadi artefacts” has officially opened in Kandahar, with officials saying more than 100 items have so far been collected for display.

Mufti Mohammad Tahir Ahmad, Director General for the Preservation of Jihadi Artefacts at the Ministry of Information and Culture, attended the inauguration ceremony alongside Qari Ahmadullah Saeed Khosti, Director of Registration for Jihadi Artefacts and Documents.

Mufti Inamullah Samangani, head of the Kandahar Information and Culture Department, and officials from several government departments also attended the ceremony.

According to the official responsible for preserving the artefacts in Kandahar, the museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.

The collection includes weapons that officials say were captured from British, Soviet and US forces, as well as personal belongings and other items associated with people killed during Afghanistan’s conflicts over the past two decades.

Officials said efforts to collect additional artefacts would continue in order to expand the museum’s collection.

The museum is now open to visitors, according to the officials.

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