ISLAMABAD: The recent border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan have brought bilateral trade to a standstill as thousands of traders remain stranded and goods worth millions stuck at key crossings for a second day on Monday, traders said, with stakeholders and experts calling for a dialogue to defuse tensions between the neighbors.
The fighting began Saturday night, when Afghan forces struck multiple Pakistani military posts. Afghanistan officials claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in response to what they said were repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace.
Pakistan’s military gave lower figures, saying it lost 23 soldiers and killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” during retaliatory fire along the border. Foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, China and Russia, expressed concern and urged restraint as a ceasefire appeared to be holding.
Pakistan has closed all eight border crossing points with Afghanistan after the clashes along the 2,611-kilometer border, leading to the formation of long queues of vehicles carrying hundreds of tons of perishable goods.
“The border closure is not only hurting Pakistan-Afghanistan trade but also affecting exports to Central Asia, causing daily losses of millions of dollars,” Junaid Ismail Makda, president of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), told Arab News.
Pakistan imports fruit, vegetables and dry fruit from Afghanistan and exports textiles, rice and plastics in return, according to the Pakistani commerce ministry. The annual bilateral trade is valued at around $2 billion, while Afghanistan also depends on Pakistan’s transit corridor for global imports.
Although, Pakistan and Afghanistan have eight border crossing points but most of the goods pass through the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Chaman in the southwestern Balochistan province.
Both provinces have witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent years. Islamabad's has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil by militant groups, particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and India of backing them for attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny those allegations.
The weekend clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan also followed the killing of more than a dozen Pakistani soldiers in KP.
Abdul Waris, a goods clearing agent in Chaman, said hundreds of containers with perishable produce were stuck on the Afghan side of the border.
“Businessmen in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar have already paid Afghan farmers and now their goods are rotting,” he told Arab News.
Traders say the closure of border crossings has affected livelihoods on both sides.
“Trade between the two countries benefits hundreds of thousands of people and now their income has stopped,” said Shahid Shinwari, a former senior vice president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce in KP.
He said Afghanistan cannot afford a prolonged closure of border as it heavily relies on Chaman and Torkham crossings, hoping that the two countries "will resolve their issues through talks for the better future of [their] peoples."
Arab News contacted Pakistan’s military to know when the border crossings are expected to reopen but did not receive a response.
Experts say the Taliban's attack on Pakistani posts after last week's alleged airstrikes in Afghanistan shows they want to project their "independence from Pakistan."
“They are trying to dispel the perception of being under Islamabad’s influence,” he added.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan skirmishes come at a time when Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is visiting India, where he said on Saturday that Pakistan should not blame Afghanistan for its internal problems.
His comment was a reference to Islamabad's complaints about rising attacks by TTP militants, who Pakistani officials say have sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
Asked about Muttaqi's visit to India, Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special envoy to Kabul, said it is the right of Afghanistan to establish relations with India.
Durrani said Pakistan had to respond to the Taliban attacks on its outposts but maintained that talks are the only way to end the crisis.
“Clashes are not good for the region. The only solution is talks,” he added.
