The reopening of the Spin Boldak-Chaman border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan shows that normalcy is returning to Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, for it not only means that trucks carrying goods can be exchanged, but the reopening of the pedestrian lane allows the tribes divided by the Durand Line to go on undisturbed by the border. The agreement to allow Afghan nationals to enter Pakistan on Afghan identity papers perhaps owes something to the high-level diplomacy that was carried out when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi led a delegation to Kabul.
However, that is a risky step to take, even with peaceable and stable regimes, but especially so if a country is coming off a prolonged conflict, and the government in power has taken over by force of arms. Apart from the doubts about the Afghan identity papers, which could be forged or tampered with in turbulent times such as the present, it is likely that a lot of people will try to leave the epicentre of instability and become refugees. It is not necessary that some malign force organise crossings by its agents. It is enough that those sympathetic to militancy cross genuinely as refugees, and then get recruited here do such sabotage activities as are beginning to plague Balochistan. The nexus of the refugees, Indian intelligence agencies and extremist organisations needs to be watched carefully by the Pakistani law enforcing agencies, and it must be ensured that these elements do not feed into the unrest already gripping the province.
As the immediate area of Afghanistan affected is also the Taliban strongold, there is all the more reason to seek their assistance in making sure that the crossing is only used for trade and intra-tribal communication. This crossing is likely to increase in importance in future, as it will be one of the primary routes by which the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative will cross from Pakistan (along the CPEC) to Afghanistan, and across it to Central Asia and beyond. However, it must at all times be properly policed; for only then will it achieve its true potential.
