Pakistan-Afghanistan border opens after one month: Official

Pakistan closed the border in mid-February, following a string of militant attacks that Islamabad has blamed on militants hiding in Afghanistan.

Pakistani police officers stand guard while their colleagues search a car at a checkpoint on the highway leading to Torkhum, a border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Photo | AP)

PESHAWAR: A Pakistani border official said hundreds of trucks have crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan after the border re-opened for the first time in more than a month, ending the protracted closure of one South Asia's busiest trade routes.

Fayaz Khan at Pakistan's Torkham border crossing says Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's order to open the border was received late on Monday. He says that as a result, the border opened for business at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

The long-stranded convoy of trucks that stretched for miles on either side began to move.

Pakistan closed the border in mid-February, following a string of militant attacks that Islamabad has blamed on militants hiding in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan often accuse the other of harbouring militants.