Afghan traders on Sunday ended their protest conditionally and reopened the Torkham crossing point along the Durand Line for traffic.
On February 21, a number of Afghan traders shut the Torkham gate against exports after their spare parts loaded vehicles remained parked in western Herat province for months and claimed it caused them ‘huge’ losses.
The traders called off their protest after Nangarhar governor Shah Mohammad Miakhel arrived at the port and talked with the traders about their problems.
Khalil Rahman Shinwari, one of the traders, said 1,700 disassembling vehicles for spare parts in containers remained stranded at the Herat Customs Office for the last four months.
He said the customs officials in Herat had asked them to pay their taxes based on a new system. He said he paid his taxes through the old system but the officials wanted him to pay it again through the new system.
Shinwari said they incurred huge losses every day as their spare part containers had been forcibly parked in Herat.
He said similar spare part containers were allowed to move in Spin Boldak and Nimroz ports, but not in Herat.
Governor Miakhel said it was his responsibility to protect all rights of traders of the province as their counterparts enjoyed in other provinces.
He assured the traders of sharing their problems with the Presidential Palace for solution and the traders then ended their protest and allowed traffic to pass through the border.
The traders said they ended their protest conditionally as if their problem was not solved, they would again hold protests even larger.
