ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Thursday all American soldiers who arrived from Kabul had left his country, though he added that the Pakistani government would continue to facilitate the evacuation process from Afghanistan.
The United States completed its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, marking the end of its military presence in the war-torn country after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15.
Pakistan played a key role in facilitating diplomats, journalists and employees of various international organizations who were striving to leave Afghanistan by offering them transit visas.
“No American [soldier] is in Pakistan,” Ahmed told the media in Islamabad. “People are time and again talking [about the presence of US soldiers in the country], but all those [Americans] who arrived in Pakistan have already left.”
Earlier this week, the interior minister dismissed reports about the long-term presence of US troops in Pakistan, saying that their stay would be for a “limited period.”
The United States Embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday thanked Pakistan for its help with the evacuation process while adding that Washington would now be focusing on its “diplomatic engagements in the region.”
“The United States appreciates Pakistan’s support and assistance with both of these efforts,” the American diplomatic mission said in a Twitter post.
In response to a question, the Pakistan interior minister said his country shared over 2,600-kilometer-long western border with Afghanistan which was safe. However, he acknowledged that “there were some [security] threats,” adding that the government could close the Chaman border crossing “for some time or days.”
Shortly after Ahmed’s media talk, local media reported the authorities had temporarily closed the border crossing with Afghanistan.
Located in the southern Balochistan province, Chaman is the second major crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan in terms of trade and the overall movement after the Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also maintained that his country’s western border with Afghanistan had been secured by of "timely measures" taken by the Pakistani leadership before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Pakistan started fencing its border with Afghanistan in 2017 when militants were launching attacks on the country's military check posts.
Pakistan's security establishment has already said the fencing project is nearly complete.