PESHAWAR: Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday that Kabul would reopen its trade routes with Pakistan only after it receives “strong assurances” from Islamabad that they would not be closed in future to exert “political pressure” on it, as tensions persist between the two countries.
The development takes place days after Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry issued a letter saying it has authorized the movement of United Nations humanitarian cargo into Afghanistan through the Torkham and Chaman border crossings after nearly 50 days of disruption.
Pakistan closed its border crossings with landlocked Afghanistan after armed clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces in October, which stalled the movement of people and goods, including relief shipments. Afghanistan’s reliance on Pakistani ports has long given Islamabad leverage to press Kabul over Pakistani militants it alleges shelter across the border, which Kabul denies.
“The trade routes will be reopened only when strong assurances are received from the Government of Pakistan,” Mujahid wrote on social media platform X.
“So that in the future these routes are not closed for political pressure, unlawful use or to coerce the people, and so that the rights of traders and citizens of both countries remain protected,” he added.
The Afghan government spokesperson accused Pakistan of illegally closing its land border routes with Afghanistan, alleging Islamabad used them as a “tool of political and economic pressure” that caused harm to people on both sides.
As the border crossings between the two neighbors remain closed, Afghanistan has increasingly started to make use of Iran’s concessions to shift freight to its Indian-backed port of Chabahar, bypassing Pakistan and avoiding recurring border and transit disruptions.
Abdul Salam Jawad Akhundzada, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s commerce ministry, told Reuters in November that his country’s trade with Iran has reached $1.6 billion in the last six months. He said this was higher than the $1.1 billion of Afghanistan’s trade with Pakistan.
Afghanistan has boosted shipments through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, routes it says are growing faster than Pakistan’s.
However, Pakistan still remains the fastest route to the sea, with trucks reaching its southern port of Karachi in three days. Its exports to Afghanistan neared $1.5 billion in 2024.
