Afghan Travellers Complain of Frontier Extortion

Drivers, businessmen and other travellers say they are regularly fleeced by Afghan police and customs officers at a major border crossing with Pakistan.

Businessman Dr Mukhles told IWPR he had complained to numerous officials about the extortion at the Torkham checkpoint in the eastern Nangarhar province, to no avail.

When an IWPR reporter visited the area, frontier police were not openly asking for money. They seemed aware of the complaints and were keeping a low profile. Some get children to act as intermediaries and physically collect the cash for them.

Nangarhar province’s deputy governor, Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal, says he is aware of the extortion racket after receiving many complaints about it, and has ordered the relevant departmental chief to clear out wrongdoers in the customs service. Despite this, he says, the illegal extortion continues.

Frontier police representatives have denied their officers are demanding money from drivers. Gardiwal says a team is being sent in to sort things out, and prosecutions are possible.

Zabihullah Ghazi is an IWPR-trained reporter in Jalalabad.