KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – In the wake of recent political tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, both sides have agreed to “separate business from politics” and have reached trade and transit agreements “for the benefit of the people of both countries.”
The agreements, as stated by Taliban spokesman Zahibullah Mujahid, were reached after two days of negotiations between a Pakistani delegation led by Muhammad Khurram Agha, Pakistan’s Deputy Minister of Commerce, and the Taliban Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, in Kabul.
According to the Taliban statement, both sides have agreed to discuss the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) and have decided that a revised agreement should be finalized within two months.
The APTTA bilateral agreement, signed between the former government of Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2010, had expired prior to the Taliban’s takeover of the country in August 2021.
Pakistan and the Taliban have agreed to facilitate the transfer of goods from international containers to regional containers at the ports of Karachi within the next six months. They have also agreed to provide tariff preference to 10 export goods, including eight agricultural items and two industrial products.
An agreement has been reached to establish air transit corridors between the two countries in the next two months for the transfer of goods.
As part of Pakistan’s recent actions concerning Afghanistan’s transit goods, the Taliban statement indicates that both sides have agreed to remove the mandatory bank guarantee and revert to using insurance as previously practiced.
Additionally, both parties have agreed to establish banking relationships instead of engaging in goods-to-goods trade (barter). Pakistan has expressed its readiness to purchase coal from Afghanistan at international prices.
The agreements between Pakistan and the Taliban were reached at a time when the relationship between both sides has been strained in recent years over the issue of the TTP, an ideological offshoot of the Afghan Taliban. The TTP is responsible for killing dozens of Pakistani security forces and civilians.
Pakistan claims that the Taliban is providing shelter for TTP members in Afghanistan and offering the militant group and its affiliates military training and advanced weapons to destabilize the region. The country has consistently demanded the regime in Kabul to take decisive actions against those responsible for the security incidents and surrender them to Islamabad.
Earlier this month, Pakistan conducted “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations” inside Afghanistan by launching airstrikes in the eastern provinces of Paktika and Khost. The strikes aimed to target militants from the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, who are responsible for multiple attacks inside the country.
Condemning Pakistan’s cross-border attack as “reckless” and a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty, the Taliban said that at least eight people, including women and children, were killed in the attacks.
In retaliation, the regime in Afghanistan claimed that it had targeted Pakistan’s military installations along the border area using powerful weaponry. They additionally warned that any future attacks by Pakistan could result in “very serious consequences” beyond the country’s control.
