- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
DAYS after capturing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have stopped all imports and exports with India. Dr Ajay Sahai, director general of Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) said the extremist group has paused movement of cargo through the transit routes of neighbouring Pakistan, thereby stopping all imports to the country, ANI news agency reported.
“We keep a close watch on developments in Afghanistan. Imports from there come through the transit route of Pakistan. As of now, the Taliban has stopped the movement of cargo to Pakistan, so virtually imports have stopped,” Sahai was quoted as saying.
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“In fact, we are one of the largest partners of Afghanistan and our exports to Afghanistan are worth around $835 million for 2021. We imported goods worth around $510 Million. But besides the trade, we have a sizeable investment in Afghanistan. We have invested around $3 billion in Afghanistan and there are 400-odd projects in Afghanistan some of which are currently going on,” he added.
“…Some of the goods are exported from international north-south transport corridor route which is fine now. Some of the goods go through Dubai route also which is working,” the top FIEO official said.
Sahai added that India enjoyed healthy trade relations with Afghanistan, a country where it has made big investments when a democratically elected government was there. Currently, India exports items like sugar, apparel, beverages, spices, pharmaceuticals, etc.
“Imports are related and largely dependent on dry fruits. We also import a little gum and onions from them,” the FIEO DG added.
However, despite the concern arising over the current situation in Afghanistan, Sahai was optimistic about India’s trade relations with Afghanistan.
“I am pretty sure over a period of time Afghanistan will also realise that economic development is the only way to move forward and they will continue with that kind of trade. I think the new regime will like to have political legitimacy and for that India`s role will become important for them also,” he told ANI.
The FIEO however expressed concern that the price of dry fruits in India may go up in the near future because of the turmoil in Afghanistan. India imports around 85 per cent of dry fruits from Afghanistan.
