At Pakistan’s Border With Afghanistan, People Wait To Cross From Both Sides

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A Taliban guard stands on the Afghanistan side of Torkham, the border with Pakistan. People behind wait to leave or for those returning to Afghanistan.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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Taliban and people waiting in Afghanistan can be seen from the Pakistan border crossing at Torkham.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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The Taliban flag hangs on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in front of the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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People wait on the Afghanistan side at Torkham border, either to leave the country or greet returnees.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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The border fencing between Pakistan and Afghanistan extends up the mountains near Torkham.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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A brightly painted truck passes through Torkham while a Pakistani guard watches.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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With border traffic at a standstill, men rest under a truck while waiting to get to Afghanistan.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Razziq Mehmon (second from right) waits in Pakistan near the border to drive a truck loaded with cement bound for Jalalabad.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Trucks line the road waiting to get through the border to Afghanistan

Claire Harbage/NPR

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A gate at the Torkham border crossing.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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A Taliban guard (right) stands adjacent to a Pakistani guard on the Torkham border.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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People seeking medical attention wait on the border to enter Pakistan.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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The Taliban «have shown us what they are capable of in the past with how they flogged women or didn’t allow them to go to school, says Rahmatullah Alakkozai, a doctor who traveled to Torkham from the the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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A Pakistani minibus arrives to transport people to and from the border.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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A boy on the Afghan side of the border awaits those returning to Afghanistan through Torkham.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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Birds fly above Torkham.

Claire Harbage/NPR

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Birds fly above Torkham.

Claire Harbage/NPR