12 Nov 2025 - 14:03
The Kabul Tribune (KT) —Taliban deputy prime minister for economic affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar has called on Afghan traders to halt commerce with Pakistan and find alternative routes for imports and exports.
Speaking at a gathering of businessmen and industrialists in Kabul on Wednesday, November 12, Baradar gave traders a three-month deadline to identify alternatives to Pakistan for trade and transit.
He stressed that if Pakistan wants trade routes with Afghanistan to remain open, it must provide strong and reliable guarantees. “These routes will only stay open when it is ensured they will never be closed — neither in times of war nor peace,” he said.
Baradar added that the Taliban have decided to establish alternative trade and transit corridors beyond Pakistan. He also said the Taliban would no longer support the import of Pakistani goods — even medicines — and ordered a halt to the import of pharmaceutical products from Pakistan.
At the same event, Taliban minister of industry and commerce Nooruddin Azizi said that trade and transit through Pakistan have long been the most damaging routes for Afghan traders.
“Every time the harvest season for fresh and dried fruits arrives, Pakistan closes trade routes under various pretexts,” Azizi said. He emphasized that if trade with Pakistan continues, Islamabad should handle the marketing of Afghan products inside Afghanistan — not Afghan traders.
Azizi also noted ongoing efforts to release around 12,000 containers that were stranded in Pakistan during recent tensions between the two countries.
“Our policy,” he said, “is to keep the private sector away from political rivalries.”
Meanwhile, The Kabul Tribune has obtained a Taliban-issued directive sent to Afghanistan’s Dried Fruit Exporters Association, giving traders a three-month deadline to find alternative trade options to Pakistan.
