MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2021) Pakistan will not open borders for refugees from Afghanistan during the American troop withdrawal and the Taliban offensive, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said on Tuesday.
Earlier today, Pakistan announced that it is closing the Torkham border crossing, one of two checkpoints on the border with Afghanistan, referring to recommendations issued by the national center to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have decided not to open our border for refugees; the aid agencies can help the needy on the other side too," the minister told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
If the situation worsens, Pakistan "will establish settlements along the border with strict control and monitoring, prohibiting the entry of refugees into the mainland," he added.
The country thus intends to use the "Iranian model," which provides for containing refugees in camps so that they cannot settle in cities, according to the official.
Afghanistan is seeing a spike in violence as international troops are gradually being withdrawn from the country. The troop pullout was one of the points in the agreement the Taliban and the United States reached in Doha in February of last year.
