Pak Closes Torkham Border Crossing, Evacuates Citizens

A special flight of PIA arrives in Islamabad carrying 329 passengers from Kabul; Pakistan has always suggested a political settlement to Afghan conflict, says foreign minister

- Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan has closed the Torkham crossing with neighbouring Afghanistan with the Afghan side of the border now under Taliban control, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Sunday.

The closure of the last major border crossing out of Afghanistan to fall to the insurgents follows their seizure of the eastern city of Jalalabad, on the main highway to the capital Kabul, earlier on Sunday.

Jalalabad has a population of around 356,000 people as of 2014. The city is around 65 kilometres from the Pakistani Torkham border crossing, making it a centre for international trade.

Meanwhile, a special flight of Pakistan’s national airline PIA has arrived in Islamabad carrying 329 passengers from Kabul, and another carrying 170 people was to arrive later on Sunday.

A spokesman for the airline said on Saturday that the airline will operate three flights to transport Pakistanis and other nationalities looking to leave Kabul.

PIA and other commercial flights from Kabul were heavily delayed on Sunday due to a US military transport plane that blocked the runway, the airline said.