Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi on Friday said that transit trade with Afghanistan would remain suspended for the foreseeable future till the current security situation was evaluated.Questioned about the status of trade with Afghanistan during his maiden weekly press briefing, Andrabi said: “Afghan transit trade is closed, is not taking place. It is not taking place because of the factors that you were aware of. There was considerable discussion on this question during last week’s briefing as well. Till the evaluation of the security situation, this transit trade will remain closed.”
He said there had been continuous attacks on trading points at the border from the Afghan side that killed Pakistanis, adding that the lives of citizens were “more important than any commodity trade”.
Andrabi added that Afghan soil should not be used for fomenting and sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.
Questioned about reports of the Taliban supreme leader ordering the construction of a dam on the Kunar river, the spokesperson said: “We are ascertaining the details. But generally trans-boundary rivers are governed by international law. In such matter, Pakistan is both an upper and lower riparian. So, we will follow this matter.”
The Chitral river originates from Pakistan and is called Kunar when it enters Afghanistan. It joins the Kabul river near Jalalabad before re-entering Pakistan.
Border crossings between the two countries have remained closed since October 11, following ground fighting and Pakistani airstrikes across their 2,600-kilometre frontier that killed dozens on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul.
All trade and transit have been blocked since the fighting erupted, Khan Jan Alokozay, the head of the Pak-Afghan Chamber of Commerce in Kabul, told Reuters on Thursday.
The border clashes were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul control militants who attack Pakistan across their shared border, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan. The Taliban has denied the charge.
A ceasefire was agreed in talks hosted by Qatar and Turkey last weekend and is holding between the two sides, but the border trade remains closed. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for October 25 in Istanbul.
“We have no information when the border with Afghanistan will be opened,” a senior official of the Chaman administration had said earlier.
The official added that even though the traders and the people involved in import and export are demanding the reopening of the border, no decision has been made so far.
A senior official said that there was no chance of opening the border before the meeting between Islamabad and Kabul in Istanbul on Oct 25, where both sides will decide future plans in view of the recent clashes.
“Trade and business activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan will be restored under what will be the outcome of the Istanbul review meeting,” Imran Khan Kakar, a leading businessman, had told Dawn.
The border authorities opened the Friendship Gate for a limited time for the repatriation of Afghan refugees, who were reaching Chaman from different areas of Balochistan and Karachi.
The activities at the immigration section of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were also suspended, and those who were going to Afghanistan using visas and passports were also stuck in Chaman due to the border closure.
“Over 5,000 Pakistanis are stranded in Spin Boldak as they visit there and Vesh on a daily basis for their small businesses,” an FIA official said.
