The Pakistan ambassador in Moscow said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency that the transit of goods through Afghanistan to Central Asia has surged.
“As the shipping has gotten more complicated, a lot of Pakistani traders are sending their products on trucks through Afghanistan, then they enter Central Asia, where they undergo customs clearance within the Eurasian Economic Union, for example – in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan, and then they come to Moscow,” said Shafqat Ali Khan, Pakistani Ambassador to Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Investment said that transit through Afghanistan has increased by 50 percent.
“Transit has increased to Central Asia from Pakistan and India to Central Asia,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the ACCI.
“Afghanistan, because of its strategic location as a route between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia, is very important in this sense,” said Abdul Salam Javad, a spokesman for the MoCI.
Meanwhile, some economists believe that Afghanistan has a good income through the transit of commercial goods annually.
“Afghanistan is slowly finding that its geographic location can play a main role as a connecting bridge between South Asian and Central Asian countries …,” said Abdul Nasir Reshtia, an economist.
A lot of commercial goods from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Iran, and Pakistan pass through Afghanistan.
