December 1, 2025

By Hazrat Ali

CHAMAN

The Chaman border has been closed to all commercial activities and pedestrian movement since the early hours of October 13, ever since a skirmish took place between Pakistani and Afghan forces. The prolonged closure has severely impacted the lives, livelihoods, and local economy of residents. Meanwhile, thousands of travellers are stranded on both sides of the border, facing severe financial and mental distress.

On Sunday , November 30, a jirgah (tribal council) was held at the residence of former president of the Chaman Chamber of Commerce, Haji Abdul Bari Achakzai. The jirgah was attended by political parties, civil society, traders, and tribal elders.

“The purpose of today’s jirga is to seek suggestions from people of different schools of thought to resolve this issue. The biggest problem now is that thousands of traders and laborers from our Chaman city are stuck across the border for the past 50 days and are facing severe hardships, ” Khan Amanullah Khan, tribal chieftain, told Voicepk.

Hundred of couples separated, await weddings

“Hundreds of couples whose wedding dates were fixed are now waiting to get married. Eighty percent of our people depend on the border,” sad Khan. “With the halt of livelihoods, locals have now become destitute. In today’s jirgah, proposals on these four issues have been presented and after consultation, they will be placed before the government. If our issues are not seriously considered, we will adopt a plan for strong protests.”

Many traders, laborers, and some locals from Chaman city who had gone to meet relatives are currently stranded in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. They can see their homes across the border but cannot return.

“Thousands of laborers, traders, and patients are stranded on both sides of the border. They had gone with legal documents like passports, but now their visas have also expired. They can see their homes across the border but cannot go,” Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a civil society activist and head of the Saleh Zai tribe, said while speaking to Voicepk. “Today in this jirgah, various elders, including myself, spoke on this issue and jointly demand from the current government that, on humanitarian grounds, a passage be given to these stranded people so they can return to their homes and avoid further distress.”

Traders face billions in losses

The continuous closure of the Chaman-Pakistan-Afghanistan border has caused severe losses to traders. Traders say that each day of closure costs them millions of rupees. Transportation is halted, and business is completely shut. On the other hand, thousands of people have become unemployed.

“The border closure has sunk billions of rupees of traders. Traders from both countries have orchards of fresh fruit on both sides. Pakistani traders have pomegranates, grapes, and vegetables in Afghanistan, while Afghan traders have bananas, kinnows, and potatoes in Pakistan. The fresh fruits and vegetables of traders from both countries have either spoiled or had to be sold at throwaway prices,” said Haji Imran Kakar, a former president of the Chaman Chamber of Commerce.

“On the other hand, transport is stalled. At the Chaman border, 500 to 700 trucks operate daily for import and export. Thousands of people are associated with livelihoods from this transport—hotels, retail shops, puncture shops, guest houses, petrol pumps, banking staff. You can estimate how many people’s livelihoods are linked. Millions have become unemployed due to this border closure,” he added.

Various proposals were presented in the Chaman jirgah. Participants of the jirga will present these proposals to the government and seek a possible solution.