New Delhi, Nov. 12 – Afghanistan’s economic leaders warned that traders must halt imports of Pakistani medicines within three months, calling them low‑quality and urging companies to find new supply routes. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said Kabul would cut ties with businesses that keep buying from Pakistan.
Baradar told a meeting of Afghan business groups that “our health system suffers from poor‑quality drugs coming from Pakistan.” He demanded that importers end contracts with Pakistani suppliers, settle accounts, and switch to other suppliers by the end of the three‑month period. The Taliban leader repeated that Afghanistan’s trade links with regional partners have expanded and that the country already has alternative routes for exports.
The announcement follows a month‑long closure of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Traders and consumers in both sides of the frontier are feeling the shock. In Pakistan, social‑media posts show a sharp rise in the price of Afghan tomatoes, while Afghan markets complain that the price of Pakistani bananas has jumped. Some Afghan farmers report that their produce—tomatoes, grapes, pomegranates and onions—has become cheaper after the border shut, but at the same time the cost of imported fresh fruit from Pakistan has risen.
Afghanistan, a landlocked country, depends on Pakistani ports like Karachi and Gwadar to reach international markets. Its top export sectors are carpets, dried fruit, medicinal plants and gemstones, worth about $1.6 billion in 2024. Baradar said that the new trade policies would safeguard Afghan businesses and prevent political interference from Islamabad.
If Pakistan wants to reopen the border, Baradar called on it to guarantee that the trade routes will never be closed again. The nearest truce between the two neighbours was signed following an armed clash on Oct. 11, but a lasting agreement over trade and border demarcation still lags behind.
Afghan officials highlighted that the Durand Line, the 2,600‑km stretch defined by the British in the 19th century, remains a flashpoint for skirmishes and has caused repeated trade disruptions. The Taliban’s push for alternative routes signals a shift toward reducing reliance on a semi‑hostile neighbor and strengthening economic ties with other regional partners.
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