Nearly 18,000 Pakistani vehicles that transported Afghan migrants to the Spin Boldak border crossing remain stranded in Afghanistan after being denied reentry into Pakistan, local sources said Friday.
The backlog has driven transportation costs sharply higher, leaving many returning families under severe financial pressure, the sources said.
Drivers of the vehicles, commonly known in Pakistan as ertal, have been stuck for weeks on the Afghan side of the border.
Neither Taliban officials nor Pakistani authorities have commented publicly on the situation.
Pakistan resumed its mass deportation of undocumented Afghans earlier this month. The Taliban’s Commission for Refugees estimates that up to 6,000 people are expelled daily through multiple crossings, including Spin Boldak in Kandahar province.
