Afghanistan is scrambling to diversify its trade partners after a deadly border clash with Pakistan last month brought ties to their lowest point in years, affecting people on both sides of the frontier.The South Asian neighbours have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Afghanistan of harbouring the militants behind cross-border attacks -- charges the Taliban government denies.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, Afghanistan's deputy prime minister for economic affairs, urged traders last week to "redirect their trade toward other alternative routes instead of Pakistan".Pakistan is landlocked Afghanistan's top trading partner, supplying rice, pharmaceuticals and raw materials, while taking in 45 percent of Afghan exports in 2024, according to the World Bank.More than 70 percent of those exports, worth $1.4 billion, are perishable farm goods such as figs, pistachios, grapes and pomegranates.

Dozens of Afghan trucks were stranded with rotting produce when the frontier shut on October 12 due to deadly cross-border fire, which was followed by a fragile truce.Losses have topped $100 million on both sides, and up to 25,000 border workers have been affected, according to the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), which seeks to promote bilateral trade.Baradar warned traders that Kabul would not intervene if they kept relying on Pakistan.

Trade with Iran and Turkmenistan has jumped 60–70 percent since mid-October, said Mohammad Yousuf Amin, head of the Chamber of Commerce in Herat, in western Afghanistan. Kabul also sent apples and pomegranates to Russia for the first time last month.Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban administration.Taliban leaders crave wider recognition and foreign investment, but sanctions on senior figures have made investors wary.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)