Afghanistan’s Nuristan Residents Demand Reopening of Roads Blocked by Pakistan

Residents of Nuristan’s Kamdesh and Barg-e-Matal districts have urged officials to reopen blocked roads amid worsening shortages and border tensions.

Residents of Nuristan have urged Taliban officials to reopen blocked roads as shortages deepen and fears grow over worsening border tensions.

Residents and tribal elders from the Kamdesh and Barg-e-Matal districts of Nuristan have met Taliban officials in Kabul, demanding urgent action to reopen key roads that have remained closed for weeks.

According to a statement from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, participants in the meeting asked for immediate attention to their problems, especially the reopening of transport routes linking the isolated districts to the rest of the province.

The meeting was attended by Taliban minister Khalid Hanafi and the Taliban governor of Nuristan. Hanafi reportedly promised to raise the issue with relevant authorities and instructed the provincial governor to use all available resources to resolve the crisis as quickly as possible.

The ministry’s statement attributed the road closures to natural causes, including rainfall and difficult terrain. However, local sources and residents have previously said the routes were blocked largely because of cross-border shelling, rocket fire and insecurity linked to Pakistani military activity in the area.

Residents say the roads in eastern Nuristan, particularly in Kamdesh and Barg-e-Matal, have effectively been cut off for nearly a month, making access to food, fuel, medicine and other basic necessities increasingly difficult.

People in the affected districts have warned that if the blockade continues for another one to two weeks, the situation could turn into a humanitarian emergency. Some residents have also expressed concern that continued insecurity could further weaken local control and expose the districts to greater risk.

The broader backdrop is a sharp escalation in Afghanistan-Pakistan border tensions. Fighting and shelling have intensified in several eastern provinces in recent weeks, following some of the worst clashes between the two sides in years. Reuters Press have reported renewed cross-border fighting, civilian casualties and growing fears among communities living near the frontier.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration of allowing militants to operate from Afghanistan territory, while Taliban officials have denied the allegations and accused Pakistani forces of targeting civilian areas. Diplomatic efforts by regional actors, including Turkey, China and Gulf states, have so far failed to fully calm the crisis.

For residents of Nuristan, however, the immediate concern remains survival rather than diplomacy. Unless the roads are reopened soon and supplies begin flowing again, the humanitarian strain in these remote mountain districts is likely to deepen further.

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