Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce said on Saturday that Pakistani goods are transported to Central Asian countries through Afghanistan without any problems.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said that Afghanistan offers immense opportunities in terms of realisation of Pakistan’s vision to becoming a trade and energy connectivity hub and integration of South, Central, and Western Asia.
However, she said the current political situation coupled with the threat of terrorism poses a challenge for the region. She said that the full potential of Pakistan’s relationship with the Central Asian Republics is largely unexplored due to the situation in Afghanistan.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Islamic Emirate, however, says that Pakistan’s goods are transported to Central Asian countries without any problems through Afghanistan.
“Countries that want to transit through Afghanistan should not worry at all. Any country that says there is insecurity in Afghanistan, we reject it completely. We assure the neighboring countries that we have secured the roads and there is no problem,” Abdulsalam Akhundzada said.
Investors also say that Afghanistan has played its transit role in the region to meet the economic needs of Central and South Asian countries.
“We have always had exports to Pakistan. Our goods, our fruits, our vegetables have been perished, but no one has so far said that the goods of the Pakistani businessmen have been stopped or damaged on the way to Afghanistan,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, an investor.
Economic experts also say that considering the current economic situation in Afghanistan and the region, Kabul can play an important role in the economic relations of the countries and get huge profits from it.
“I think that since the establishment of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, there has been tremendous progress in the security sector,” says Taj Mohammad Talash, an expert on economic affairs. “Afghanistan is ready for regional connectivity.”
