Pakistan grants a limited humanitarian exception for UN aid to enter Afghanistan, marking the first partial border opening since deadly October clashes.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will temporarily allow UN relief supplies into Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.
This marks the first partial border opening since deadly clashes erupted between the two neighbours in October.
“In response to formal requests from UN agencies… the government of Pakistan has approved a limited and specific humanitarian exception to allow movement of their containers to Afghanistan,” a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The supplies include food, medicine, medical equipment, and other essential goods related to health and education.
The aid transfers will take place in “three phases”, though the official did not specify when the first phase would begin.
A United Nations official also confirmed that the aid would soon be allowed to enter Afghanistan.
However, an Afghan official in Spin Boldak, near a key border crossing, said they had no information and the gate remained closed.
The border has been closed since the October conflict, with only Afghans being expelled from Pakistan allowed to cross.
The Pakistani official said the border would remain closed to all trade, and that the partial reopening for aid was “conditional”.
“Pakistan has not reopened the border for general trade or immigration with Afghanistan, nor has it restored Afghan Transit Trade,” the official added.
Dozens of Afghan trucks were stranded with rotting produce when the frontier was shut on October 12 due to deadly cross-border fire.
Losses have topped USD 100 million on both sides, according to the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Up to 25,000 workers in the border regions have also been affected.
Pakistan is landlocked Afghanistan’s biggest trading partner, supplying rice, pharmaceuticals and raw materials.
It took in 45% of Afghan exports last year, according to the World Bank.
