Afghanistan.ru reports the Afghan authorities may close the Afghan transit route for Pakistani exports to Tajikistan and other Central Asia’s nations if Afghan traders are not allowed to use Lahore's Wagah border for trade with India.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reportedly noted this during a meeting with the UK's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Owen Jenkins that took place in Kabul on September 9.
“Pakistan has always shut its routes on Afghanistan's fresh fruit, causing loss of millions of dollars to our traders," the Afghan president said.
Meanwhile, International Business Times (IBT) reports that speaking during a conference with Owen Jenkins, Ghani said, “Afghanistan is no more a landlocked country as it has many transit routes for the import and export of goods.” He added that Kabul had always made efforts to boost cooperation in the state and wanted Pakistan and other regional countries to remove all technical problems that prove hindrance in economic development.
The statements reportedly came amid ongoing tensions between the two neighbors over several issues including Pakistan's new mechanism at its Torkham border that necessitates every Afghan to carry passport and visa for crossing the border.
According to reports, Kabul has long been urging Islamabad to permit it to use Wagah border for importing goods at the Indian border town of Attari. However, Pakistan is hesitant to allow because of its bitter relations with India.
According to IBT, the Afghan president also indirectly accused Islamabad for funding terrorism and said, “Support to the terrorist groups is an action contrary to the good neighborhood and all international norms and action of the neighboring country is no more acceptable to the people and government of Afghanistan.”
“We will use diplomatic channels to stop all efforts to destabilize Afghanistan through terrorist groups. I want our message should be conveyed to Pakistan,” Ghani was quoted as saying by The Tribune.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Pakistan in January-June this year has valued at about 42 million U.S. dollars. This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Pakistan estimated at US$20.7 million and Tajikistan’s imports from Pakistan worth US$20.9 million.
