PESHAWAR: On the unseasonably cold morning of March 3, Abdullah Noori, 53, sat in a mosque in Landi Kotal, a border town on the Pak-Afghan frontier in Khyber tribal district.
Dressed in a loose shalwar qamees with a neatly draped black shawl on his left shoulder—he anxiously checks his cellular phone.
“I don’t know what test life is putting me through. I’ve been stuck here for two days, just a few kilometres away from my homeland, yet I can’t go back due to circumstances beyond my control,” he says with a weary sigh, feeling caught between a rock and a hard place.
A resident of Kabul and a phosphate mining businessman, Abdullah arrived in Pakistan on February 15 after securing a visa for business meetings in Islamabad, Peshawar, and Taxila. He was set to return to Kabul on February 23, but the closure of the Torkham border on February 21 left him stranded.
“I was informed by an administrative official in Kabul on February 28 that the border might reopen by March 1 or 2. So, I immediately made my way to Landi Kotal, hoping to cross. But just after iftar, as I prepared to leave for Torkham, a clash erupted on March 2, 2025 between Pakistani and Afghan forces. Those who had already reached the border had to retreat with great difficulty.”
With three sons and two daughters eagerly awaiting his return in Kabul, Abdullah is unsure when the border would reopen. Given the intensity of the exchange of fire on the night of March 2, he doubts it would happen anytime soon. “I don’t think they’ll reopen the border for at least another week,” he says. If the closure drags on beyond March 15, when his visa expires, he may be forced to return via Dosti border crossing in Chaman, Balochistan.
During Friday sermons, appeals are made in mosques across Landi Kotal to help arrange meals for the [marooned] Afghans, which are generously responded by the locals.” – Farhad Shinwari, a local shopkeeper
Hundreds of Afghan nationals are stranded in Landi Kotal, staying in mosques or with local hosts. The mosque, Jamia Masjid, in Landi Kotal bazaar has become a temporary refuge, where local traders and philanthropists provide iftar and sehri dinners for the marooned travellers.
Farhad Shinwari, a local shopkeeper, says, “During Friday sermons, appeals are made in mosques across Landi Kotal to help arrange meals for the [marooned] Afghans, which are generously responded by the locals.”
What led to border closure?
A senior Pakistani customs official stationed at the border says that the closure was triggered by Afghanistan’s insistence on constructing a three-storey building right next to the zero line, a move Pakistan strongly opposed.
During the flag meeting on February 21 this year, Pakistan requested the Afghan authorities to stop the construction. The meeting ended inconclusively, as the Taliban remained sticking to their guns to construct the building, leading to a deadlock.
Subsequently, later that evening, at 7 PM, Pakistani officials responded by completely sealing the border. Since then, efforts have been underway to resolve the issue diplomatically, but so far, all attempts have hit a brick wall.
Afghan officials were initially expected to halt construction and engage in talks at the Kabul-Islamabad level, raising hopes of reopening the border by March 2 or 3. However, on the night of March 2, tensions flared up once again.
Standoff turns deadly
Reports indicate that a verbal altercation between Pakistani security personnel and Afghan Taliban forces escalated on March 2, culminating in Afghan Taliban firing at a Pakistani checkpoint at around 10 PM. Pakistani forces retaliated, targeting Afghan posts. The gunfire continued intermittently for nearly nine hours, injuring three Frontier Corps personnel and five civilians.
On Afghan side, one security man was killed while eight other sustained injuries.
Naushad Ali, a revenue department officer stationed in Khyber district, confirms that “several vehicles were damaged in the crossfire, and many residents of the nearby Bacha Mena area had to be evacuated.”
Standoff leaves thousands stranded
Thousands of Afghan citizens remain stuck in Landi Kotal, Peshawar, and other parts of Pakistan due to the border closure, while cargo trucks carrying goods are lined up along the roadside, stretching over an area of around 40 kilometres from Landi Kotal to Takhta Baig in Jamrud.
Tension at Torkham is not new. Just a few days before this incident, on February 16, Afghan Taliban forces attempted to build a bunker near Koda Khel Pass in Mohmand tribal district, intended for their tanks. Pakistan objected, citing the 300-metre no-construction zone agreed upon in the past. This led to a heated exchange, followed by an exchange of two-hour- fire from both sides.
A senior official at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department explains that under an informal agreement from the former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai era, both sides had agreed that no construction would take place within 300 metres of the zero line without mutual consent.
“Despite this, there are currently 22 contentious sites along the border in Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, and North Waziristan tribal districts where either Pakistan or Afghanistan wants to build structures, but neither side is willing to allow it.”
Around 1,500 to 2,000 Afghan citizens and 400 to 500 trucks cross through Torkham border crossing daily. Nevertheless, trade and movement have come to a complete halt due to the latest closure.” – Pakistan Customs official
Since 2024 alone, around two dozen skirmishes have erupted over construction disputes along the border, resulting in casualties on both sides.
An Afghan official stationed on the Afghan side of the Torkham border crossing, Saber Omari, argues that “over the past few years, Pakistani authorities have constructed several buildings on 1,300-kanal land under the Integrated Transit Trade Management System.”
This is their right, he adds, and we never objected. “However, when we try to build within our own territory, Pakistan stops us. We won’t accept this, and that’s why we resist.”
On the other hand, a Pakistani official who wished not to be named, says, “Yes, we’ve built many structures at Torkham, but none of them are near the zero line. The Taliban must understand that while they can build whatever they want away from the border. Any construction near the zero line is a security concern.”
This is not the first time that construction-related tensions escalated at Torkham. In 2016, Pakistan attempted to build a gate at the zero line, but Afghanistan resisted fiercely. The ensuing gunfight resulted in the death of a Pakistan army officer, Major Jawad Ali Changezi. Three Afghan soldiers were also killed, leaving 18 wounded on both sides.
Trade on the brink
According to the statistics of the Pakistan’s Customs, around 1,500 to 2,000 Afghan citizens and 400 to 500 trucks cross through Torkham border crossing daily. Nevertheless, trade and movement have come to a complete halt due to the latest closure. Before 2015-16, pedestrian crossings at Torkham numbered around 20,000 per day, with 1,500 to 2,000 trucks crossing the border. However, Pakistan’s border management policies have significantly reduced these figures.
In 2023, Pakistan further tightened regulations, allowing only visa-holders to cross via Torkham. Afghan citizens carrying Proof of Registration (PoR) or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) were also barred.
Pakistan and Afghanistan first signed a trade agreement in 1958, followed by another in 2011, enabling trade via Torkham, Chaman, Ghulam Khan, Angoor Ada, and other crossings. However, following the latest amendments in 2023, Pakistan imposed restrictions on 225 items previously allowed under transit trade, severely impacting cross-border commerce.
Many of these banned goods were frequently smuggled into Pakistan, causing an estimated annual loss of 500 t0 700 billion rupees to the national exchequer.
Ties remain strained under Taliban
Trade is just one aspect of the broader, uneasy relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Despite hopes for improved ties after the Taliban takeover in 2021, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained tense.
An Islamabad-based journalist Nazarul Islam—who has extensively reported on tribal areas and border issues—says, “Pakistan had high expectations from the Taliban. However, they soon realised it was a misconception, leading to growing tensions.”
Pakistan has tried multiple tactics to put pressure on the Taliban—deporting Afghan refugees, launching cross-border strikes, and repeatedly closing the border—but the Taliban stood their ground.
Durand Line: Myth and reality
The 2,590-kilometer-long Durand Line, established in 1893 as the boundary between British India and Afghanistan, remains a contentious issue. Many Afghans consider it a colonial imposition, arguing that Afghan territories incorporated into British India were leased for 99 years, expiring in 1992, or that the border was never physically marked.
They claim that large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were historically Afghan land before annexation.
Abdur Rahman Khan, Afghanistan’s ruler from 1880 to 1910, was the first to assert these claims. In his 1900 autobiography, he wrote: “… the Indian Government took all the provinces lying to the south-east and north-east of Afghanistan, which used to belong to the Afghan government in early times, under their influence and protection. They gave them the name of ‘independent,’ and … called them the neutral states between Afghanistan and India.”
However, a map given to him by the British viceroy refuted his unfounded claims and identified several regions as independent, which is why he later relinquished some claims.
The Durand Line Agreement, signed on November 12, 1893, between Abdur Rahman Khan and British official Henry Mortimer Durand, explicitly states: “The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan, and His Highness the Amir will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of India.”
The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan, and His Highness the Amir will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of India.” – Durand Agreement
However, Afghanistan continued to claim Pashtun areas that became part of Pakistan, unsuccessfully requesting their integration in the 1940s.
Afghanistan continued asserting claims over Pashtun lands in the early 1940s. Kabul sought to absorb Pashtun areas south of the Durand Line, which British India rejected. The 1947 partition plan further angered Afghanistan, leading it to demand that NWFP and Baluchistan be given independence or the choice to join Afghanistan.
Afghanistan was the only country to oppose Pakistan’s entry into the United Nations. On September 30, 1947, Afghan envoy Hussain Aziz stated: “…we cannot recognise the North West Frontier as part of Pakistan so long as the people of the NWFP have not been given an opportunity free from any kind of influence… to determine for themselves whether they wish to be independent or become a part of Pakistan.”
On June 30, 1949, Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga unilaterally revoked all treaties with British India. Tensions escalated in 1950 with border skirmishes, leading Pakistan to withhold petroleum shipments to Afghanistan. In 1953, Afghanistan abrogated the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921, which had recognised the Durand Line.
Scholars have since debated these historical claims, offering varying interpretations. Lutfur Rehman—a researcher and author of Revisiting the Durand Line: Historical and Legal Perspectives (2024)—disputes Afghan claims over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other territories in Pakistan. He argues that Afghanistan ruled parts of KP not as indigenous rulers but as invaders.
Building on his arguments, he states that as per Article III of the Durand Agreement, Afghanistan agreed not to interfere in Swat, Bajaur, or Chitral. However, Afghanistan occupied Bashgal Valley and Nasrat district, incorporating them into Kunar province and renaming Nasrat as Narai. He asserts that Nasrat was historically part of Chitral, while the British waived claims to Bashgal “out of friendship.”
