Pakistan on Tuesday reopened a key border crossing with Afghanistan, allowing stranded Afghan nationals to return home after more than a month of tensions and clashes between the two neighbors.
The Torkham border, which connects Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, was reopened a day after a "flag meeting" between the two sides, said a spokesman for the provincial government.
The border-one of the two main crossings between the two countries-was shut in late February following intense border clashes and a breakdown in bilateral ties, causing significant disruption in trade and movement.
"At this point, the (border) reopening is only restricted to the repatriation of Afghan nationals who have been detained for illegally staying in Pakistan," the spokesman said while refusing to provide his name.
"If things go well, then other activities, including trade and general public movement, will be restored gradually," he said.
Pakistan launched a nationwide campaign against illegal Afghan immigrants in 2023, arresting and repatriating thousands.
The latest round of border clashes began in late February, following a series of deadly attacks across Pakistan by militants loyal to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for which Islamabad accused Afghanistan of sheltering them and failing to take action against them. Kabul denies the accusations.
It followed airstrikes from the Pakistani military targeting alleged TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan.
According to Kabul, the airstrikes killed dozens of civilians, whereas Islamabad claimed over 500 TTP militants were killed in the strikes.
The two sides had agreed to a week-long ceasefire on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, one of the main Muslim festivals, on March 18, following requests from Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Separately, a grand meeting of elders from Pakistan and Afghanistan, locally known as a jirga or tribal assembly-bringing together tribal elders, political leaders, and civil society representatives-opened in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Tuesday.
The participants called for renewed dialogue between the two neighbors after weeks of escalating cross-border violence.
Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan share 18 border crossing points, the busiest of which are Torkham and southwestern Chaman in Balochistan province.
