Afghanistan Peace CampaignRenewed clashes near Afghanistan’s Torkham border crossing with Pakistan have endangered civilians and humanitarian operations, with a child killed and an aid worker injured, the United Nations said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the casualties occurred during fighting on Wednesday, October 28, near the eastern border crossing in Nangarhar province.
The injured humanitarian worker had been assisting Afghan families returning from Pakistan, while the child was from the local community, OCHA said in a statement on Friday, October 30.
The agency warned that repeated clashes in the area were threatening the safety of nearby communities and could further disrupt humanitarian assistance. It called on all parties to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure and humanitarian personnel, and to ensure aid can be delivered without obstruction.
Despite the tensions, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners remain at the border, providing assistance at Torkham and nearby reception and transit centres, according to OCHA.
Torkham handles most returns from Pakistan
Torkham is a major crossing point for Afghans returning from Pakistan. OCHA said more than 600,000 people had crossed into Afghanistan through the route between January and the beginning of October 2026, accounting for nearly 85 per cent of recorded returns from Pakistan.
The latest violence comes as large numbers of Afghans continue to return from Pakistan, including people affected by Islamabad’s campaign to expel undocumented Afghan nationals.
The UN agency warned that previous escalations in the border area had forced the crossing to close temporarily and humanitarian partners to relocate some services. Further fighting could again interrupt assistance and expose returning families to additional risks.
An AFP report published on October 29 also cited Afghan police as saying that two children were killed by Pakistani gunfire near Torkham on Wednesday and two other civilians were wounded. The police account differs from OCHA’s statement, which reported one child killed and one humanitarian worker injured. The figures should therefore be treated as separately attributed accounts rather than combined casualty totals.
The renewed clashes come amid continued tensions between Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and Pakistan. In a separate report on October 28, Reuters cited a Pakistani regional official as saying that firing from Afghan Taliban forces had killed one person and injured five others in Pakistan’s Waziristan region. The report did not provide further details about the circumstances or a response from authorities.
OCHA stressed that civilians and humanitarian workers must be protected, while aid organisations need safe and unhindered access to people requiring assistance.