Taliban halts trade with India via Pakistan route; 2 terminals sealed, says FIEO DG

Amid rapid developments coming from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over Kabul, India has started witnessing the change with the closure of all imports and exports activities happening via Pakistan particularly, informed Dr Ajay Sahai, Director General (DG) of Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO). As per the DG, the Taliban stopped the movement of cargo to Pakistan which was one of the routes to India for goods transfer. It is important to note that goods exported through the international north-south transport corridor route and Dubai are working.

Currently, there are several projects which are going on with India's investment worth USD 3 billion. 

"In fact, we are one of the largest partners of Afghanistan and our exports to Afghanistan are worth around USD 835 million for 2021. We imported goods worth around USD 510 Million. But besides the trade, we have a sizeable investment in Afghanistan. We have invested around USD 3 billion in Afghanistan and there are 400-odd projects in Afghanistan some of which are currently going on," added Sahai.  

India-Afghanistan trade relations

As per the Indian official, both countries share healthy relations when it comes to trade exchange. Currently, the Indian export profile includes sugar, pharmaceuticals, apparel, tea, coffee, spices and transmission towers while imports are largely dependent on dry fruits, explained DG Sahai. 'We also import a little gum and onions from them,' FIEO DG said.

Dr Sahai has expressed a positive attitude towards the continuation of import and export services. Reasoning the hopeful statement, the Indian official said that Afghanistan will realise the importance of economic development. In his concluding remarks, the Federation of India Export Organisation has feared dry fruit prices to go up amid festival season due to the turmoil in Afghanistan. India is importing around 85 per cent of dry fruits from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, all the Indian officials deployed in the Indian Embassy of Kabul along with others working there have safely returned to India. The Government is working on bringing back all the stranded Indian nationals in Afghanistan and also those who wish to enter India. The first French evacuation flight from Kabul yesterday included 21 Indian nationals, the elite Gurkhas who were ensuring the security of the French Embassy, tweeted France embassy in India.

(With ANI inputs)