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Afghan Taliban Closes a Main Border Crossing with Pakistan 


FILE - A member of the Taliban forces stands guard at the Pakistan-Afghanistan crossing border, in Torkham, Pakistan, September 2, 2021.
FILE - A member of the Taliban forces stands guard at the Pakistan-Afghanistan crossing border, in Torkham, Pakistan, September 2, 2021.

There are reports Monday of brief cross-border exchange of gunfire at Torkham, a main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There has been no word on casualties.

Pakistani officials told The Associated Press the Afghan Taliban closed the border Sunday because Pakistan allegedly refused to allow Afghan patients and their caretakers into Pakistan without travel documents.

Mullah Mohammad Siddiq, a Taliban Torkham border official, advised Afghans not to travel to the Torkham border. He said in a tweet that Pakistan had not lived up to its “commitments,” but did not specify what those were.

Torkham is a main point of transit between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a landlocked nation. The countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border.

Ayaz Gul contributed to this report from Islamabad.

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