AFP Asia

Bangladesh cricket said Wednesday it was in talks with governing body the ICC seeking a “practical” solution to its request to move its T20 World Cup matches out of India.India forced Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman to quit the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday, prompting anger in Dhaka.With ties tense between the two countries, Bangladesh wants the ICC to shift their World Cup games from India to co-hosts Sri Lanka, citing security concerns. The World Cup begins on February 7 and Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches in India.Senior Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official Nazmul Abedeen Fahim told AFP on Wednesday that talks were ongoing with the ICC “regarding security issues”.A BCB statement said it would “continue constructive engagement with the ICC and relevant event authorities”, seeking an “affable and practical solution that ensures the smooth and successful participation of the team”.The ICC have not commented.Bangladesh international Mustafizur was snapped up at IPL auction in December by the Kolkata Knight Riders for more than $1 million.But he was let go on the Indian cricket board’s “advice” after what it called “recent developments”.Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.The BCB on Wednesday said it was “firmly committed to placing the highest priority on the safety, security and well-being” of the team.

The fourth edition of the Women’s Premier League launches Friday with the popularity of women’s cricket at an all-time high in India following their maiden World Cup triumph.India’s victory on home soil in November in the 50-over tournament captivated the cricket-crazy nation of 1.4 billion.The WPL, a Twenty20 event, is the cornerstone of the women’s game in the country and sees five teams competing for a place in the February 5 final.National captain Harmanpreet Kaur leads defending champions Mumbai Indians when they open the competition against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Fellow national stars Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Smriti Mandhana join Kaur among the WPL’s marquee names.Overseas stars are also in action after the World Cup, including New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt and Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and Phoebe Litchfield.”In the last three years the WPL has grown in leaps and bounds,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Mithun Manhas said.”With the kind of performances they have shown with the World Cup win, I’m sure things will keep on rising for Indian cricket and the WPL.”- ‘New era’ -South Africa and Delhi Capitals fast bowler Marizanne Kapp said that the WPL — the women’s answer to the phenomenally popular IPL — had been a game-changer.”People don’t always understand how important these leagues are for women’s cricket,” Kapp told the Cricbuzz website.”When you look at the youngsters coming through now, a lot of that is thanks to leagues like the WPL.”BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said that India’s players had caught up with the traditional powers in the women’s game, as evidenced by their first World Cup crown.”Initially Australian, England and South African players, they were doing wonders, and in comparison to them, our players were not of that standard,” Shukla said.”But now I see that they can defeat them.”People never used to send their daughters to play cricket… now I am seeing thousands of girls coming for trial.”Some players’ World Cup exploits translated into big WPL paydays, although they still pale in comparison to IPL numbers.Kerr rejoined Mumbai for $335,000, making her the most expensive overseas buy in last year’s auction.India all-rounder Deepti will turn out for UP Warriorz at $358,000, becoming the joint second-costliest player in league history.Delhi Capitals bolstered their squad with World Cup performers including Rodrigues and Wolvaardt as they chase their maiden WPL title.Bengaluru captain Mandhana and Kaur front major endorsement deals and dominate WPL advertising hoardings.The International Cricket Council (ICC) said the World Cup final marked a “new era” in the game, with the 277 million viewers equalling those watching the last men’s T20 World Cup final.Broadcaster JioStar said there was record-breaking viewership, which it is hoped will translate into viewing figures for the WPL.- Cash windfall -Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League, launched in 2015, helped open doors for women cricketers before the WPL brought an unprecedented financial windfall. Introduced as a curtain-raiser to the IPL, the WPL quickly carved out its own space.The inaugural WPL season in 2023 earned the Indian cricket board about $700 million in franchise and media rights, making it the world’s second most valuable women’s sports league after the WNBA in the United States.Gender parity has long been championed by former BCCI secretary — now ICC chairman — Jay Shah, who introduced equal match fees for men and women.WPL chairman Jayesh George has big dreams.”We should go on par with IPL in the next couple of years,” George said.

In the dense hill forests along Bangladesh’s border with war-torn Myanmar, villagers are losing limbs to landmines, casualties of a conflict not of their making.Ali Hossain, 40, was collecting firewood in early 2025 when a blast shattered his life.”I went into the jungle with fellow villagers. Suddenly, there was an explosion, and my leg was blown off,” he told AFP. “I screamed at the top of my voice.”Neighbours rushed to stem the spurting blood.”They picked me up, gathered my severed leg and took me to hospital”, he said.In Ashartoli, a small settlement in Bandarban district — the village name translates as “haven of hope” — the weapons of a foreign war have turned forests, farms and footpaths deadly.Bangladesh’s 271-kilometre (168-mile) eastern border with Myanmar cuts through forests, much of it unmarked, as well as rivers.It is crossed daily by villagers, as their families have done for generations, for collecting firewood or smalltime trading.Surgeons chopped Hossain’s leg off above the knee.”My wife had to carry me on her back,” he said, gesturing towards the steep hillside around his home, as he recalled the months after the blast.A year later, Hossain walks with an artificial leg and a crutch, but he cannot return to his job on a rubber plantation.Needing 300 taka ($2.50) a day for medicine, his two young sons now take on his former dangerous task, collecting firewood after school.- ‘My whole life’ -Similar stories echo across the border region.”My father and forefathers collected wood from the jungle,” said Mohammad Abu Taleb, 47. “I learned no other trade.”He crossed unwittingly into Myanmar.”I stepped on a pile of dry leaves, and there was an explosion,” he said, leaning on a crutch. “It took away my whole life.”His 10-year-old son has since dropped out of school to help support the family.Taleb said trips to repair his artificial leg and attend medical checkups cost around US$80 — an impossible burden for a family struggling to survive.Nurul Amin, 23, lost his leg while attempting to bring a cow across the border, a memory blurred by pain.”They carried me on their shoulders to the hospital,” he recalls, saying he was more worried that his monthly income had now fallen to around $25-$30. “That’s not enough for a family,” he said. “I have no other way to survive.”- ‘Cruelty’ -Myanmar is the world’s most dangerous country for landmine casualties, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has detailed the “massive” and growing use of the weapons, banned by many countries.It recorded more than 2,000 casualties in Myanmar in 2024, the latest full statistics available — double the total reported the year before.”The use of mines appeared to significantly increase in 2024–2025,” it said in its Landmine Monitor report, highlighting “an increase in the number of mine victims, particularly near the border” with Bangladesh.Bangladesh accuses Myanmar’s military and rival armed forces of planting the mines.Guerrilla Arakan Army fighters — one of the many factions challenging the junta’s rule — control swathes of jungle across the border with Myanmar.More than a million Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar also live in Bangladesh’s border regions — caught between the warring military and separatist groups.Bangladesh police say that at least 28 people were injured by landmines in 2025.In November, a Bangladesh border guard was killed when a landmine tore off both his legs.”This cruelty cannot be legitimised,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kafil Uddin Kayes, a local Border Guard Bangladesh commander.Bangladesh’s border force has put up warning signs and red flags, and conducts regular mine-sweeping operations.But villagers say warnings offer little protection when survival depends on entering forests seeded with explosives, leaving communities in Bangladesh to pay the price of war.”The population is increasing, and people are moving closer to the border, as we have farmlands there,” said 42-year-old farmer Dudu Mia.”Planting landmines cannot be the solution. It can’t go on like this.”

A Bangladesh commission investigating disappearances during the rule of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina said Monday at least 287 people were assumed to have been killed.The commission said some corpses were believed to have been dumped in rivers, including the Buriganga in the capital, Dhaka, or buried in mass graves.The government-appointed commission, formed after Hasina was toppled by a mass uprising in August 2024, said it had investigated 1,569 cases of abductions, with 287 of the victims presumed dead.”We have identified a number of unmarked graves in several places where the bodies were presumably buried,” Nur Khan Liton, a commission member, told AFP.”The commission has recommended that Bangladesh seek cooperation from forensic experts to identify the bodies and collect and preserve DNA samples from family members.”In its final report, submitted to the government on Sunday, the commission said that security forces had acted under the command of Hasina and her top officials.The report said many of those abducted had belonged to the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), both in opposition to Hasina.In a separate investigation, police in December began exhuming a mass grave in Dhaka.The grave included at least eight victims of the uprising against Hasina, bodies all found with bullet wounds, according to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah.The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power.She was sentenced to death in absentia in November for crimes against humanity.”We are grateful for finally being able to know where our brother is buried,” said Mohamed Nabil, whose 28-year-old sibling Sohel Rana was identified as one of the dead in the grave in Dhaka.”But we demand a swift trial for the police officials who shot at the people during the uprising.”

Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier.”He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, told AFP at her mud home in Ghunjan village.”We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photo of her son.Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died last month while trying to cross illegally into Iran from Afghanistan’s Herat province, according to officials, when temperatures were around -3C.With earthquakes and drought compounding a daily struggle to survive in Afghanistan, around half the population will need humanitarian assistance this year, according to the United Nations.”There was no other way left for me. I thought, let him go to make our life better,” said Mah Jan, 50, who requested the family’s surname not be published for privacy reasons.Habibullah’s stepbrother, Gul Ahmad, said the teenager had tried shoe polishing but only earned up to 15 afghanis (23 cents) per day.”He was ready to be a shepherd for 2,000 afghanis ($30 a month), to work in a shop, but he found nothing. So he was forced to leave. He told his mother, ‘Let’s trust in God, I’m going to Iran’,” said Gul Ahmad, 56.- ‘Very dangerous’ –  Habibullah was among 15 bodies returned from Iran, an Afghan border source told AFP on condition of anonymity.A further three migrants who died were recovered on the Afghan side of the frontier, an army official said.Over just a matter of days last month, around 1,600 Afghan migrants “who were at risk of perishing due to the weather” were rescued in the mountains, according to Iranian border guard commander Majid Shoja, quoted by the ILNA news agency.They are drawn to Iran due to greater job opportunities and a common language, but legal routes are limited.Afghanistan’s deputy minister for labour and social affairs, Abdul Manan Omari, said Sunday it was “necessary to do more” to facilitate work permits for migrants.Iran and Pakistan have combined sent back five million Afghans since September 2023, increasing the country’s population by 10 percent, according to the International Organization for Migration.The agency’s deputy head in Afghanistan, Mutya Izora Maskun, said that many in the country report “the economy, job insecurity, food insecurity, constrained access to services” force them to leave.They do so even if that means going through “illegal crossing points that are very dangerous due to the cold and the risks of human trafficking”, she told AFP.The Taliban government has taken “serious steps to fight the smugglers”, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP.But attempts to reach Iran have not stopped.- ‘Destitute’ -In the last week of December, “347 people who were trying to illegally cross the border into Iran were identified and arrested”, a military unit in western Afghanistan said in a statement on Saturday.Abdul Majeed Haidari, whose one-year-old son suffers from a heart problem, tried his luck in mid-December.Working at a brick oven, the 25-year-old could no longer afford to pay for his son’s medication and family expenses.”We left because we were so destitute,” his stepbrother Yunus, who accompanied him, told AFP.”We set out in the rain. In such weather, the radars and cameras of the border guards do not work properly. But the smuggler got lost,” he said.They failed to light a fire for warmth and, as snow fell, Yunus recounted his stepbrother’s words: “I can’t walk anymore.””Some told us to leave him so as not to endanger the other 19 people in the group,” said Yunus, who requested his full name not be used.After carrying him for two more hours, “his eyes stopped closing, his body grew heavier,” Yunus recalled, before an Iranian family drove past and took them to hospital.”They gave him electric shocks, but they said he was already dead,” said Yunus, who has since returned to his village.

Joe Root and Harry Brook tamed Australia’s all-pace attack with an unbroken 154-run stand on Sunday to rescue England and give them the upper hand after a rain-hit day one of the fifth and final Ashes Test.Batting after skipper Ben Stokes won the toss at a sold-out Sydney Cricket Ground, they steered the tourists to 211-3 when bad light forced the players from the field just before tea.Subsequent rain and the risk of lightning made no further play possible, with stumps called an hour early.Root was not out 72 and Brook on 78 after coming together with England tottering at 57-3 following the wickets of Ben Duckett (27), Zak Crawley (16) and Jacob Bethell (10) before lunch.The world’s top two-ranked batsmen set about counter-attacking on a decent batting pitch providing little movement for the bowlers.Both brought up hard-fought half-centuries and, with dark storm clouds looming, kept the scoreboard ticking over at a fast clip.”We’re in very good position, obviously three down at the end of the end of play,” said Brook.”Hopefully we can make the most of that going into tomorrow.”It was good pitch,” he added. “When I first went in it felt like the bounce was fairly steep. But then it it started to get a little bit lower and slower and just generally feels like a good wicket.”England came into the game buoyed by a four-wicket win inside two days in the previous Test in Melbourne, desperate to keep the momentum going.That victory snapped a 15-year winless streak in Australia but came too late to save the series, with the hosts retaining the urn by winning in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.Australia sprang a surprise by including all-rounder Beau Webster in place of quick Jhye Richardson, with off-spinner Todd Murphy overlooked.- ‘Hate doing it’ -It is the first time in almost 140 years that the hosts have not played a front-line spinner during a Sydney Test.”Hate doing it,” said Australia skipper Steve Smith.”But if we keep producing wickets that we don’t think are going to spin and seam is going to play a big part and cracks are going to play a big part, you kind of get pushed into a corner.”England brought in seamer Matthew Potts for the injured Gus Atkinson in their only change, with their frontline slow bowler Shoaib Bashir missing out for a fifth straight Test.The day began with a tribute to first responders at the Bondi mass shooting last month that killed 15 people, with huge cheers when hero Ahmed Al Ahmed, who tackled one of the gunmen, appeared.Duckett was lively when play started, crunching five boundaries from Mitchell Starc in a quickfire 27 off 24 balls.But England’s tormentor-in-chief Mitchell Starc had the last laugh, enticing an outside edge from an angled ball to wicketkeeper Alex Carey at full stretch. It was the fifth time Starc has bagged Duckett this series.Crawley was next to go, trapped lbw by Michael Neser, with both openers back in the sheds by the first drinks break and the tourists in trouble on 51-2.A cautious Bethell took 15 balls to get off the mark and never looked confident.He departed after prodding at a moving delivery from Scott Boland that took a faint edge to Carey as England fell to 57-3.Root joined Brook at the crease and they began to rebuild.They rotated the strike well and punished any loose balls with Root bringing up his 67th half-century, and the 100-partnership, with a single off Webster.Only Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, with 68, has scored more Test fifties.Brook was fortunate to survive on 45 when he slogged Starc and the ball dropped between three chasing fielders. But he kept his composure to reach a 15th half-century four balls after Root, cracking Webster through the covers for a boundary.

Bangladesh has requested their matches at next month’s T20 World Cup be played in Sri Lanka, after India forced a Bangladeshi player to quit the Indian Premier League.Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), after an emergency meeting on Sunday, said it had “formally requested” the International Cricket Council (ICC) shift their games to Sri Lanka.”The Board of Directors resolved that the Bangladesh National Team will not travel to India for the tournament under the current conditions,” a BCB statement read.It said its decision was made due to “growing concerns regarding the safety and security” of its players, and based on its government’s advice.Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was on Saturday released by the Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL team were “advised” by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to do so, following tensions between the neighbouring nations.Earlier, Asif Nazrul, Youth and Sports Adviser in the interim government, said that Dhaka “will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances.””The days of slavery are over,” he added, in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency on Sunday.”Where a Bangladeshi cricketer cannot play in India despite being contracted, the entire Bangladeshi cricket team cannot feel safe going to play in the World Cup,” he wrote.- ‘Dignity and security’ -The T20 World Cup begins on February 7, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches in India.Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, part of a deal that allows both India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues in multi-nation tournaments. India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul earlier said that “the dignity and security of our cricketers are our top priorities”.Mustafizur, who has previously played in the IPL for other teams, was snapped up at auction in December by Kolkata for more than $1 million.But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that “considering recent developments” Kolkata had been “advised to release” the 30-year-old.The 2026 IPL season begins on March 26.Nazrul said he would also ask that the IPL be blocked by Bangladeshi broadcasters.”I have requested the Information and Broadcasting Adviser to stop the broadcasting of the IPL tournament in Bangladesh,” he said.Kolkata, majority-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, subsequently said that Mustafizur’s “release has been carried out following due process and consultations”.The cricket row comes only days after tensions between the nations had appeared to have eased.India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Bangladesh last week, the most senior visit by an Indian official since the overthrow of Hasina.On Friday, the BCB announced that India would go to Bangladesh for six white-ball matches in September.Bangladesh will hold its first elections since the uprising on February 12.

Bangladesh will request their matches at next month’s T20 World Cup be played in Sri Lanka, after India forced a Bangladeshi player to quit the Indian Premier League.”We will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances,” said Asif Nazrul, Youth and Sports Adviser in the interim government, in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency Sunday.”The days of slavery are over.”Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was on Saturday released by the Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL team were “advised” by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to do so, following tensions between the neighbouring nations.Nazrul said he had ordered the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to write to the International Cricket Council (ICC).”The board should inform that, where a Bangladeshi cricketer cannot play in India despite being contracted, the entire Bangladeshi cricket team cannot feel safe going to play in the World Cup,” he wrote.”I have also instructed the board to request that Bangladesh’s World Cup matches should be held in Sri Lanka.”- ‘Dignity and security’ -The T20 World Cup begins on February 7, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches in India.Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, part of a deal that allows both India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues in multi-nation tournaments. Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul said the board were considering their options.”The dignity and security of our cricketers are our top priorities, and we will take a decision at the appropriate time, keeping these in mind,” he told reporters late Saturday.Mustafizur, who has previously played in the IPL for other teams, was snapped up at auction in December by Kolkata for more than $1 million.But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that “considering recent developments” Kolkata had been “advised to release” the 30-year-old.The 2026 IPL season begins on March 26.Nazrul said he would also ask that the IPL be blocked by Bangladeshi broadcasters.”I have requested the Information and Broadcasting Adviser to stop the broadcasting of the IPL tournament in Bangladesh,” he said.Kolkata, majority-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, subsequently said that Mustafizur’s “release has been carried out following due process and consultations”.The cricket row comes only days after tensions between the nations had appeared to have eased.India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Bangladesh last week, the most senior visit by an Indian official since the overthrow of Hasina.On Friday, the BCB announced that India would go to Bangladesh for six white-ball matches in September.Bangladesh will hold its first elections since the uprising on February 12.

Bangladesh will request their matches at next month’s T20 World Cup be played in Sri Lanka, after India forced a Bangladeshi player to quit the Indian Premier League.”We will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances,” said Asif Nazrul, Youth and Sports Adviser in the interim government, in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency Sunday.”The days of slavery are over.”Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was on Saturday released by the Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL team were “advised” by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to do so, following tensions between the neighbouring nations.Nazrul said he had ordered the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to write to the International Cricket Council (ICC).”The board should inform that, where a Bangladeshi cricketer cannot play in India despite being contracted, the entire Bangladeshi cricket team cannot feel safe going to play in the World Cup,” he wrote.”I have also instructed the board to request that Bangladesh’s World Cup matches should be held in Sri Lanka.”The T20 World Cup begins on February 7, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches in India.Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, part of a deal that allows both India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues in multi-nation tournaments. Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul said the board will hold an emergency meeting later on Sunday. “The dignity and security of our cricketers are our top priorities, and we will take a decision at the appropriate time keeping these in mind”, he told reporters late Saturday.Mustafizur, who has previously played in the IPL for other teams, was snapped up at auction in December by Kolkata for more than $1 million.But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that “considering recent developments” Kolkata had been “advised to release” the 30-year-old.The 2026 IPL season begins on March 26.Nazrul said he would also ask that the IPL be blocked from Bangladeshi broadcasters.”I have requested the Information and Broadcasting Adviser to stop the broadcasting of the IPL tournament in Bangladesh,” he said.Kolkata, majority-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, subsequently said that Mustafizur’s “release has been carried out following due process and consultations”.

Nearly three months since border clashes prompted the closure of land crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan, university students, merchants and families are left hanging with no way of getting back.”We miss our parents and relatives,” said Shah Faisal, 25, who studies medicine in an Afghan university and was hoping to visit his family back in Pakistan during winter break.But the border has been shut since October 12, leaving many like him with no viable option of making it home.Flights are prohibitively expensive, and smuggling routes come at too great a risk.A student representative said there were around 500 to 600 Pakistanis at universities in one Afghan province alone, Nangarhar, who were looking for a way back.Shah Fahad Amjad, 22, who attends medical school in the provincial capital Jalalabad, called on “both countries to open the road” and let students visit their families.As the border closure drags on, some are also concerned about their visa status or financial situation.The crisis has caused problems “for us, who are students in Afghanistan, but also for Afghans who are students in Pakistan”, said 23-year-old Barkat Ullah Wazir, who studies in Jalalabad.The colonial-era border between the South Asian neighbours stretches more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) across mountainous terrain.Known as the Durand Line, it is normally a conduit between the Pakistanis and Afghans who live near it and share deep cultural, economic and even family ties.It also divides Pashtun communities who live on either side — the ethnic group from which the Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul in 2021, draws much of its support.- ‘We are displaced’ -The border has remained largely closed since the October clashes that killed more than 70 people, with the exception of Afghan refugees and migrants Pakistan has expelled.Islamabad accused Kabul of harbouring militant groups that launch attacks on Pakistani soil, allegations that the Afghan Taliban denies.Mediation efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement, and both sides have warned fighting could still resume.Pakistani shopkeeper Ehsanullah Himmat, 21, had travelled to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar with his family to attend a relative’s wedding, but “now we cannot go back to our home”, he said.”Fighting broke out, the road was closed,” he told AFP, turning the planned two-day trip into a lengthy ordeal with no end in sight.”We cannot go via smuggling routes, and other routes exist but they are very long and cost a lot of money” that the family cannot afford, he said.Now “it is cold, it’s winter, and we are displaced with our children”, Himmat said.Relatives in Afghanistan have hosted the family, but he said he felt a sense of “embarrassment” for overstaying their welcome.- ‘Standstill’ -Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that nearly 1,200 people had approached its embassy in Kabul requesting assistance to return home, including 549 students.Just over 300 people had flown back by the end of December, according to the ministry.Neither government has given any clear signal about when or under what conditions the border could reopen.At the Spin Boldak crossing point, the road leading into Pakistan is blocked.Truck driver Khan Muhammad, 39, has been there for weeks on end, unable to work or return to his city of Quetta, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border.”In these two-and-a-half months I haven’t loaded even a single kilo of cargo. Work has come to a standstill,” he said.”All our livelihoods depend on this gate,” he said, hoping the border would reopen soon.When it does, “everyone will be able to return to their homes”, he said.