Key commercial discussions between Pakistan and Afghanistan will take place in Kabul

Important economic negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan will take place in Kabul on Monday, after Pakistan’s airstrikes within the country to target terrorist hideouts.

On Monday, March 25, 2024, Secretary of Commerce Khurrum Agha will travel to Afghanistan for two days to talk about trade-related issues. Pakistan is still dedicated to fostering commercial and people-to-people relations with Afghanistan, the Foreign Office stated in a succinct statement on Sunday.

There are tensions between the two bitter neighbors, and the Commerce Secretary will be attending talks with other senior officials.

Bilateral trade between the two nations has been hampered in recent months by the deteriorating relations. Frequent border closures for a variety of reasons also had a detrimental effect on commercial relations.

Taliban officials in Afghanistan are certain that business and commerce partnerships cannot be connected to political relationships.

Pakistan initiated a number of steps in October of last year to stop the abuse of Afghan transit trade facilities because it was dissatisfied with the Taliban government’s unwillingness to take action against the TTP and its affiliates, which is prohibited.

Pakistan implemented 100% bank guarantees, put some products on the negative list, and took additional actions. According to Afghan officials, commerce through Pakistan decreased by 50% as a result of Pakistan’s actions, with the same trade moving to Iran.

However, Pakistan stated that action had to be taken to prevent the misappropriation of Afghan transit trade infrastructure. In 2022–2023, imports from Afghanistan via transit trade increased abnormally. Unprecedented imports of several goods were made into Afghanistan despite their lack of demand.

According to authorities, items intended for Afghanistan were being smuggled back into Pakistan using the transit trade facilities.

In a recent interview, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif threatened to close the economic route that Afghanistan uses to send products to India via Pakistan in the event that terrorist strikes across borders continued.

The TTP problem has caused tensions in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan for several months.

Pakistan carried out an intelligence-driven counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan on March 18. The terrorist attack on March 16 at Mir Ali resulted in the deaths of seven troops, including two officers, and prompted the strikes.