Khyber News

PESHAWAR: A ban on Nato trucks at the main border crossing into Afghanistan will last until the government promises to safeguard security, said Pakistani officials.

Officials closed the northwestern Torkham crossing, the quickest route to the Afghan capital Kabul from the port of Karachi, to Nato traffic on Thursday, just weeks after lifting a seven-month blockade on Nato trucks going into Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed to attack Nato supplies and last Tuesday, one of the truck drivers was shot dead in the northwestern town of Jamrud.

“The security plan by the political administration, police and Frontier Corps (a paramilitary force) is being prepared and once it is finalised and approved, Nato trucks will be allowed to pass,” Bakhtiar Khan, a local administration official, told a foreign news agency.

Authorities in the northwest say they wrote to the federal government 11 days ago, asking them to finalise a security plan as soon as possible.

“But so far we have not received any response,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.-- Agencies