The Taliban’s deputy chief minister Abdul Ghani Baradar on Wednesday called on Afghan businesses to scale back trade with Pakistan and shift imports — especially of medicine — to alternative countries and markets, accusing Islamabad of using trade routes as political leverage.
In a directive delivered at a public event in Kabul, Baradar said Pakistan has repeatedly exploited trade by arbitrarily closing border crossings, harming Afghanistan’s economy and exploiting non-political issues for political gain.
“For the sake of the country’s dignity, the protection of commerce and industry, and the rights of Afghans,” Baradar said. “We have advised our fellow traders that Pakistan has constantly blocked our trade routes and used non-political matters as tools of political pressure.”
He laid out a three-point policy.
He said Afghan businesses should reduce trade with Pakistan as much as possible, particularly in transport and transit.
He added that imports currently sourced from Pakistan should be shifted to other available markets, which he claimed are now widely accessible.
According to him, all pharmaceutical imports should come exclusively from other countries, and traders should begin clearing accounts and finalizing contracts outside Pakistan.
The statement marks the strongest public push yet by the Taliban to pivot Afghanistan’s trade away from Pakistan, following more than a month of border closures that have severely disrupted bilateral commerce. Key border crossings such as Torkham and Chaman remain shut, with Islamabad citing security concerns and a lack of cooperation on curbing cross-border militancy.
Pakistan is traditionally Afghanistan’s largest trading partner, accounting for over 40 percent of Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical imports and a significant portion of overall consumer goods, construction materials, and food staples. Yet the relationship has deteriorated sharply in recent months amid mounting tensions over the presence of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters in Afghanistan — a claim the Taliban deny.
Two rounds of recent negotiations between Taliban and Pakistani officials, held in Istanbul, ended without agreement. Taliban officials have accused Pakistan of making “unreasonable” demands, including calls for the Taliban to relocate TTP members or issue religious decrees against anti-state violence in Pakistan.
In response, the Taliban have begun promoting trade alternatives with regional neighbors, including Iran, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Taliban commerce minister said they are also working to develop domestic industries to reduce dependency on foreign suppliers.
The economic fallout from the border closures has been significant. The Taliban’s minister of commerce and industry, Nooruddin Azizi, on Wednesday said Afghanistan is losing approximately $200 million per month due to the disruptions, and warned that Afghan merchants have been repeatedly harmed by Pakistan’s policies.
