KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, has urged Pakistan to refrain from creating problems for Afghan traders, warning that they could shut down the trade routes between Pakistan and Central Asia.
As reported by local media outlet Ariana News, speaking at a gathering in eastern Logar province on October 3, Stanikzai urged Pakistan to keep its borders open to Afghan traders, especially during the fruit and vegetable trading season.
“Afghanistan is a transit route between Pakistan and Central Asia,” he said. “We can do the same. We can close our borders. We can create problems for them, but we don’t want to create problems for our Pakistani brothers across the border.”
“We therefore ask them to keep their borders open during the fruit and vegetable season in Afghanistan so that fruits and vegetables can reach their people and provinces and through them to India and other countries,” he added.
This is the first time Taliban authorities have threatened to close Pakistan’s transit route to Central Asia in response to Islamabad’s trade obstacles in recent months.
In recent months, Pakistani authorities have repeatedly closed the Torkham crossing point, the main gateway for travelers and goods between the two countries, citing the lack of legal documentation for travelers and truck drivers.
Most commercial truck drivers live across the border and have been crossing without a visa for decades. However, the recently imposed regulations now require individuals whose families and businesses are spread across the border to present a visa every time they cross, which for some means multiple times a day.
Most recently, in August, Pakistan halted thousands of trucks carrying fruits and vegetables at the Torkham border for over a week, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for traders on both sides.
The country has also raised customs duties on fresh fruits and vegetables by 18% in recent months, making the export of these items more expensive for Afghan traders and leading to a decline in trade volume.
According to Taliban authorities, the closure of trade routes by Pakistan and its recent increase in customs tariffs have led to a 10% decline in Afghanistan’s exports to Pakistan.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan three years ago, tensions between the regime and Islamabad have escalated, driven by a rise in cross-border terror attacks and frequent border clashes.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring leaders and fighters of its enemy, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in Afghanistan, providing them with training and modern weapons to conduct cross-border attacks, an allegation denied by the Taliban.
