Daily Times

Pakistan and Afghanistan will hold crucial trade talks on Monday in Kabul, days after Pakistan conducted air strikes inside Afghanistan, targeting terrorist hideouts.

“Secretary of Commerce Khurrum Agha will undertake a two-day visit to Afghanistan on Monday, 25th March 2024, to discuss trade-related matters. Pakistan remains committed to promoting trade and people-to-people ties with Afghanistan,” read a terse statement issued by the Foreign Office on Sunday.

The Commerce Secretary will be accompanied by other senior officials at talks taking place amid tensions between the two estranged neighbours.

The worsening ties have undermined bilateral trade between the two countries in recent months. The frequent border closures due to a variety of reasons also negatively impacted trade ties.

Afghan Taliban authorities insist that trade and commercial ties must not be linked with the political relationship.

Pakistan, not happy with the Taliban government for its reluctance to act against the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates, took a series of measures in October last year to end the misuse of Afghan transit trade facilities.

Pakistan included certain items in the negative list, introduced 100 per cent bank guarantees, and other measures. Afghan authorities claim that Pakistan’s steps led to a 50 per cent reduction in trade through Pakistan, with the same shifting to Iran.

But Pakistan said the steps were necessary to stop the misuse of Afghan transit trade facilities. There was an abnormal increase in Afghan imports through transit trade in 2022-23. Some items, which had no demand in Afghanistan, saw unprecedented imports.

Authorities said the transit trade facilities were being misused to smuggle back goods meant for Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a recent interview, threatened to block the trade corridor that Afghanistan is using to export goods to India through Pakistan if cross-border terrorist attacks do not stop.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been tense for months over the issue of TTP. On March 18, Pakistan conducted an intelligence-based anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. The strikes were in retaliation to the March 16 Mir Ali terrorist attack that killed seven soldiers, including two officers.