Pak-Afghan border closure adversely impacts kinnow exports

KARACHI: Border closure between Pakistan and Afghanistan had an adverse impact on the export of kinnow to Afghanistan and CIS states, said Ahmad Jawad, Regional Standing Committee chairman of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a statement said on Saturday.

This resulted in failure to meet the kinnow export target, which was fixed at 300,000 tons.

“As thousands of people stranded on both (the) sides and traders were unable to move their goods across, the closure of the border with Afghanistan created a serious humanitarian crisis,” Jawad added.

Talking to newsmen, he said before the closure, hundreds of trucks and containers, mainly carrying foodstuffs such as fruit, meat and milk, would pass through these two posts alone.

The sealing of the border has also affected the trade and movement of people from other checkpoints in the tribal areas, he said, adding that thousands of trucks with perishable items are stuck on both the sides of the border for the last one month.

According to an estimate, traders from the two countries have been suffering a loss of around $4 million/day because of the border closure. Pakistani traders are bearing around 80 percent of those losses.

He also said the rising tension between the two countries and the drawdown of the US-led coalition forces had already caused a huge drop in Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan from $2.5 billion to $1.3 billion.