Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan has remained suspended for 80 days, leaving more than 11,500 trucks carrying food and non-food goods stranded at border crossings and causing daily losses of about $2 million for traders, Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment said.
Khan Jan Alokozai, a board member of the chamber, said the prolonged disruption had forced Afghan traders to activate alternative trade routes, but warned that the closure had also inflicted significant losses on Pakistan.
“We have found alternative routes and trade is continuing through them, but Pakistan is also losing,” Alokozai said, adding that Afghan imports from Pakistan had previously totalled around $1.5 billion a year.
He said prices of Pakistani export goods had risen in Pakistan’s domestic market, while the suspension had also blocked Pakistan’s access to Central Asian markets through Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, the trade halt has contributed to rising food prices, traders and economists say. According to figures released by a Taliban committee monitoring commodity prices, a 50-kilogram sack of rice now costs 3,400 afghanis, flour 1,600 afghanis, cooking oil 2,000 afghanis, petrol 91 afghanis per litre, diesel 59 afghanis per litre and liquefied gas 56 afghanis per kilogram.
Economists warn that a prolonged border closure could have severe long-term economic consequences for both countries, particularly as Afghanistan grapples with widespread poverty and shrinking trade options.
Pakistan’s central bank has previously reported that the country’s trade deficit has widened by more than 39% compared with last year. Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce has also said the closure of border crossings with Pakistan has reduced the country’s exports, imports and transit trade by between 40% and 45%.
Trade ties between Taliban and Pakistan have been repeatedly disrupted in recent years by political tensions, security concerns and border disputes, hitting businesses on both sides of the frontier.
