Pakistani PM orders the reopening of border with Afghanistan
PESAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan’s prime minister ordered the reopening of the country’s border with Afghanistan on Monday, ending a protracted closure that has cost businesses on both sides millions of dollars and deepened tensions between the two neighbours.
Calling it a “goodwill gesture,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the opening of all the crossings along the boundary, considered the busiest and most lucrative border crossings in South Asia.
Pakistan closed the border in mid-February following a string of deadly militant attacks that Islamabad has blamed on militants hiding in Afghanistan.
Since then, traders have complained of daily losses and prices of goods imported from Pakistan rose sharply in Afghanistan.