By Ashrafuddin Pirzada
PESHAWAR: Senior vice president of the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, on Tuesday said that Pakistan and Afghanistan have suffered billions of rupees in economic losses due to the suspension of bilateral and transit trade over the past ten months.
Sarhadi was speaking to journalists and said that Afghanistan remained one of Pakistan’s most important export markets, in which payments for goods were made before delivery. He said Pakistan’s annual exports to Afghanistan stand at around US$1.5 billion, with exporters losing an estimated US$1 billion during the ten-month trade blockade.
He added that Pakistan exports goods worth about US$800 million annually to Central Asian countries through Afghanistan. The disruption in transit trade has resulted in an estimated US$225 million loss for Pakistani exporters.
Sarhadi said Pakistan also imports cotton, pulses and other commodities from Central Asia through Afghanistan. The closure of transit routes has significantly increased import costs while reducing customs revenue generated from Afghan and Central Asian cargo.
He said that Karachi ports normally handle 40,000 to 45,000 Afghan transit containers each year, generating around US$160 million annually through transport, port handling, customs clearance and related services. He added that Pakistan has reportedly lost about US$106 million in revenue during the past ten months due to the disruption.
According to Sarhadi, between October 2025 and April 2026, nearly 10,000 transit containers remained stranded in Pakistan, incurring average detention charges of US$120 per container per day, costing Afghan importers approximately US$1.2 million daily.
He said Afghanistan’s annual exports to Pakistan amount to US$800 million, with Afghan exporters suffering estimated losses of US$533 million during the trade suspension. In addition, exports to India via the Wagah border, normally valued at US$300 million annually, have resulted in losses of around US$200 million.
Sarhadi said the prolonged closure has caused widespread unemployment, affected businesses on both sides of the border, reduced government revenues and disrupted Pakistan’s access to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
He urged the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to reopen trade routes immediately, restore bilateral and transit trade and resolve outstanding issues through dialogue. He said business leaders raised these concerns during the recent Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad and called on both governments to adopt a cooperative approach to revive regional trade.
