We miss our parents: Afghanistan-Pakistan border closure leaves thousands in limbo
Nearly three months since border clashes prompted the closure of land crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan, university students, merchants and families are left hanging with no way of getting back. “We miss our parents and relatives,” said Shah Faisal, 25, who studies medicine at an Afghan university and was hoping to visit his family back…
“We miss our parents and relatives,” said Shah Faisal, 25, who studies medicine at an Afghan university and was hoping to visit his family back in Pakistan during winter break.
But the border has been shut since October 12, leaving many like him with no viable option of making it home.
Flights are prohibitively expensive, and smuggling routes come at too great a risk.
A student representative said there were around 500 to 600 Pakistanis at universities in one Afghan province alone, Nangarhar, who were looking for a way back.
Shah Fahad Amjad, 22, who attends medical school in the provincial capital Jalalabad, called on “both countries to open the road” and let students visit their families.
