Pakistan closes Afghanistan border crossings at Kabul’s request

Pakistan’s two official border crossings with Afghanistan have closed for two days. The move comes at the request of the government in Kabul, which is worried about the security situation during parliamentary elections this weekend. The crossings will be closed on Friday and on Saturday – the day of the elections in Afghanistan – “for all kinds of traffic except emergency cases,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said. One of the crossings is at Chaman, in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The powerful provincial chief was assassinated there on Thursday in an attack claimed by the Taliban. The other crossing is at Torkham, in northwestern Pakistan. Afghanistan and the US have routinely accused Pakistan of harboring Taliban insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies.