November 16, 2021
The Afghan interim foreign minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi, announced the recommencement of the adjourned ‘Dosti’ bus service between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bus service will be resumed from Peshawar’s Kharkhano market area to Afghanistan’s Jalabad and will facilitate the cross-border movement of people from both sides.
The visiting delegation also proposed to initiate such services from the southern province of Balochistan.
A member of the visiting Afghan delegation stated that “talks have taken place on the resumption of bus services between the two sides. All outstanding issues have been addressed”.
It must be kept in mind that the final go-ahead is awaited from the security services of both countries, as the major threat to a stable running of any such service is the uncertain security situation.
The Pakistani counterparts welcomed the Afghan interim foreign Minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi’s request for resumption of Dosti bus services and guaranteed that the bus service will recommence by the start of the next year at most.
The bus service was suspended in 2016 due to political and security reasons. The resumption of the service will help mitigate pedestrian traffic at the border crossings and will ease the troubles of Afghan civilians living in or near Jalalabad.
Pakistan, in recent days, has resumed facilitating the movement of Afghan students and has taken other measures to facilitate the common Afghans including the issuance of visas to patients and traders and is determined to continue to assist the neighbor in these testing times.
© Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Afghan Studies Center (ASC), Islamabad.
