Afghan visa now mandatory for Pakistan transporters

The Afghan government has made it mandatory for Pakistani transporters to require an Afghan visa in order to cross the Torkham border between the two countries along with other relevant travel documents, a media report said on Thursday.

In a pamphlet distributed among the Pakistani transporters on Wednesday, the Afghan border police warned that none of them would be allowed to enter Afghanistan without a valid visa, driving licence, road pass and original number plate of the vehicle, Dawn news said in the report.

It said that all transporters taking trade goods in their vehicles to Afghanistan were required to fulfil the requirements by the end of September as they would not be allowed to cross the border after that.

Reacting to the new restrictions imposed by the Afghan government, Israr Shinwari, president of the local transporters union, said that the new conditions were not acceptable to them as it would harm trade with Afghanistan.

He said that the officials of both the countries should discuss and sort out the matter while taking the transporters into confidence.

A transporter argued that the new policy, if implemented, would seriously undermine Pakistan's efforts to enhance bilateral trade with Afghanistan.