Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Closure: One Year, Strikes, Trade

Key takeaways

Pakistan closed nearly a dozen crossings with Afghanistan on Oct. 12, 2025 after deadly clashes; RFE/RL describes it as the longest closure between the two neighbors.
The Moscow Format meeting on Oct. 5 ended without a joint statement because Pakistan and the Taliban delegation disagreed on language about terrorism, according to Russia’s envoy and Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
UNAMA confirmed 10 civilians killed in Pakistani strikes on Kunar and Helmand on Oct. 1, while Pakistan said 22 militants died; UNAMA counts 1,100 civilians killed or injured by cross-border violence this year.
Customs officials cited by RFE/RL put the value of Afghan goods crossing the border at $367 million in 2026 versus $6.7 billion in 2023.

A year after Pakistan shut its main land crossings with Afghanistan, the border remains closed, diplomacy has stalled and the two governments continue to trade accusations. This report explains the dispute, the latest diplomatic setback and the economic toll, attributing each claim to its source. It does not assess who is right; the two governments’ accounts conflict, and several figures come from the parties themselves.

How the closure began

RFE/RL reported on Oct. 4 that Pakistan closed nearly a dozen formal and informal crossings on Oct. 12, 2025, after clashes a few days earlier that followed Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan and Taliban attacks on Pakistani border posts. All major crossings have stayed closed since, which it called the longest closure between the neighbors. Al Jazeera reported in October 2025 that Qatar and Turkey mediated talks that produced a temporary ceasefire on Oct. 19, 2025, but a follow-up round in Istanbul failed over Pakistan’s demand that Kabul act against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Diplomat adds that Pakistan asked for written guarantees that militants would not use Afghan soil, a demand the Taliban rejected.

The disputed core: the TTP and the border line

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of allowing the TTP and other groups to operate from Afghan territory; Kabul denies this and criticizes Pakistani operations. The Diplomat’s Riaz Khokhar wrote that UN monitors estimate the TTP has about 6,000 fighters in Afghanistan and that the Taliban describe its members as Pakistani refugees rather than militants. He reported Pakistan recorded 1,232 militant attacks in nine months of 2026, 169 more than in all of 2025. The border itself is also disputed: RFE/RL notes that Afghan governments, including the Taliban, have not formally recognized the Durand Line drawn in 1893.

Latest strikes and civilian harm

According to The Diplomat, deadly attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sept. 18 and 26 killed about 44 people and injured about 138, and Pakistan responded with airstrikes on what it called TTP camps and hideouts in Afghanistan. RFE/RL reported that on Oct. 1 Pakistan struck Kunar and Helmand provinces, citing “credible evidence” of militant activity. Pakistani authorities said 22 militants were killed, while the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that 10 civilians, including women and children, died. UNAMA has said 1,100 civilians have been killed and injured in Afghanistan by cross-border violence this year, RFE/RL reported. The Taliban say Pakistan is acting in violation of international law, The Diplomat noted.

Moscow talks end without a text

On Oct. 5, Moscow hosted the eighth Moscow Format consultations on Afghanistan, which include Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The meeting ended without a joint statement. Russia’s special envoy Zamir Kabulov said the disagreement centered on references to Afghanistan in the context of terrorism, language the Afghan side had accepted the previous year, according to The Diplomat and AtlasPress. Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said the dispute was “not merely lexical” and tied to security issues, and that the absence of a joint statement “cannot change the realities of the region,” according to Pakistani coverage by Altnarra. He also rejected remarks by Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi about Pakistan’s links to Islamic State Khorasan Province. Pakistan’s special representative Mohammad Sadiq said more than 4,700 Pakistanis had been killed in attacks originating from Afghanistan over three years, a figure we attribute to him and could not verify.

The Diplomat reported that none of Afghanistan’s neighbors has publicly backed Pakistan’s airstrikes; China, Russia and Iran have called for restraint and offered mediation, and informal talks hosted by China in Urumqi in April ended without agreement.

The economic and human cost

RFE/RL, citing customs officials, reported that the value of Afghan goods crossing the border fell from $6.7 billion in 2023 to $367 million in 2026, and that containers entering Pakistan from Afghanistan numbered 11,592 so far in the 2025-26 financial year versus 42,959 in 2024-25. A former deputy head of the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, estimated Pakistani traders lost about $1 billion in exports to Afghanistan, plus about $160 million a year in Karachi port transit revenue, and said Afghan exports to India via Wagah lost about $200 million. These are one trade official’s estimates. The report also describes tens of thousands of workers losing income and families separated across the border.

Why it matters

The closure links security, trade and regional diplomacy: Central Asian trade routes, Afghan food exports and Pakistan’s border economy are all affected, and regional powers have so far offered mediation rather than support for either side’s position. It also intersects with other South Asian disputes; see our explainer on the Indus Waters Treaty after the Hague ruling and our brief on Pakistan’s role in the Mecca Pact activation. What to watch: further strikes and UNAMA casualty reports, any new mediation round, and whether any crossing reopens.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Closure at One Year: Talks, Strikes, Trade