May 11, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1428

PESHAWAR, May 10: Pakistani and Afghan transporters on Thursday called off their 14-day-long strike, resuming cross-border service after successful negotiations with Afghan government officials.

“Afghan authorities have assured us that there will be no illegal taxes and extortions and transporters will be given complete protection inside the Afghan territory after which we have resumed our operations,” Haji Abdur Rehman, president of the Afghan Transporters’ Union told Dawn over telephone from the Torkham border.

He said that talks with Afghan commanders and transport ministry officials were held on Torkham border on Wednesday.

Afghan commanders, he said, assured that officials had been posted in Kabul and Jalalabad to hear transporters’ complaints.

Referring to toll tax, Mr Rehman said that Afghan authorities had guaranteed that it would be reduced from Rs4,000 to Rs2,000 by next month, as the contract of the existing contractor would expire on May 31.

First convoy to Afghanistan was dispatched from the Takhat Baig area in the Khyber Agency at around 8am.