Afghan transit trade

For centuries, Afghanistan has sat at a crossroads. One of the landlocked Central Asian states, it has always been reliant on agreements for transit trade with its neighbours. Transit generates revenue for a country that has few goods of its own to export, and those that it does have are with a short shelf-life, mostly soft fruits. Into this precarious economic mix comes modern geopolitics, and neighbourly relations with India — a state that is a close trading partner for Afghanistan — and Pakistan with which relations are at a nadir. The latest development in an escalating disharmony between Pakistan and Afghanistan is that Kabul has threatened to close the transit routes for Pakistani exports to Central Asia if it continues to disallow Afghan traders to use the Wagah border in Lahore to conduct trade with India.

This has the potential to be a lose-lose for all concerned. Pakistan cannot afford to lose trading routes any more than Afghanistan. Pakistan may be a poor country but Afghanistan is impoverished and wracked by war. Much of the tension derives from new border arrangements made by Pakistan, which is now demanding that all Afghans coming in via the Torkham crossing must have a passport with a valid visa — a reversal of historic custom and practice that allows free and undocumented transit for Afghan citizens. Neither side has anything to gain by impeding the trade of the other, and the somewhat threatening tone of a statement by Afghan President Ghani has done nothing to ease tensions, indeed the reverse. Both sides need to step back and take the diplomatic equivalent of a deep breath before matters deteriorate any further. Suspicions that the transit trade may be a cover for terrorist arms and activity are not unfounded; they are real and on occasion proven. If the trust deficit could be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat, then there is a chance for the intelligence and security services of both sides to address what each acknowledge as an ongoing difficulty. A problem shared is a problem halved, and allowing safe transit is a moneymaker for all concerned. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.