June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

CHAMAN, June 14: Hundreds of vehicles were stranded in the border town of Chaman on Thursday after Afghanistan banned private cars and motorbikes from crossing into its territory, witnesses said.

The unprecedented ban, announced on Wednesday for what Afghan officials said were security reasons, triggered a protest by local tribesmen who said they would defy the order.

Pakistani officials stopped private vehicles about a kilometre from the border on Thursday and about 500 cars and bikes were dumped in a lot reserved for taxis, an AFP reporter said.

People were then crossing the border on foot.

“This is the Afghan government’s decision and we cannot do anything,” said Colonel Nisar Khan, the security chief at the Pakistani post in Chaman.—AFP