According to media reports, trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan has dropped more than 40% in last three months. In this calculation, goods exported to Pakistan from Afghanistan make a small portion of this trade while majority of this trade includes of goods imported to our country from Pakistan.

Having a look at the worsening economic conditions in the country, the above statistics make quite sense. It is a sad fact that Afghanistan is in difficult situation both from imports and exports point of view. Due to lack or absence of local production, we depend on other nations for meeting the needs of citizens inside the country. In this way, billions of dollars drain out of the economy every year. Similarly, we have very limited import including of dry and fresh fruits, gemstones, saffron, carpets and some other goods.

Our exported goods are sent to our neighboring countries (especially the fresh fruits as they are close to us) and a number of other countries like USA and European nations. We import goods from a number of nations but most prominent of our trading partners are Pakistan, Iran, China, USA and a number of other countries. Among these nations, Pakistan, China and Iran are the most suitable for us due to a number of reasons. First, these countries are our neighbors so we can easily access them via roads and bringing and sending goods are economical comparing to other trading partners of Afghanistan. Due to cheap labor and factors of production, the goods of these countries are cheaper. Then, we can easily get the urgently needed goods like fruits, vegetables and medicine from our neighboring countries in a short period of time. Due to the loose system of customs and others, bringing goods from Pakistan and Iran is also cheaper. Goods worth of millions of dollars are also smuggled from these countries due to which the prices of these goods are lower. If we had to import the similar goods from USA or European nations, majority of our citizens could have not afforded these goods.

Keeping in view all these facts, it must be understood that trade with our neighboring nations especially Pakistan is important. However, the trade relations between the two nations are greatly affected by the fluctuating political relations between the two countries. When the unity government was established in the country, President Ashraf Ghani visited Pakistan and emphasized for the expansion of trade relations between the two countries. However, during the repetitive bomb blasts in Kabul in August and then the fall of Kunduz to Taliban badly deteriorated political and trade relations between the two countries. When the Kabul was resounding with bomb explosions one after the other, the anti-Pakistan blame game also got heated up and many politicians, political experts and others demanded that Pakistani products should be boycotted and not allowed into Afghanistan. At that time of sentimental frenzy, nobody dared to talk against this demand. In this connection, the provincial government in Balkh province actually banned the entry of all the Pakistani goods into the province. In the same way, the reaction against trade relations with Pakistani and Pakistani goods was intense and had negative impacts on overall trade capacity between the two nations.

At that time as well, a common Afghan businessperson was not happy of the boycott of Pakistani goods. Similarly, all the shopkeepers in Kabul and other cities and towns of the country were concerned about the supply and prices of large numbers of commodities to their shops as boycott was going to affect their sales negatively. As feared, boycott of Pakistani goods resulted in the sudden rise in the prices of different commodities. Most of the kitchen items and daily consumption goods are imported from Pakistani and when their prices increased, it directly affected the lower and middle class Afghans. When the prices rose, the purchasing power of a common person also decreased resulting in the sharp decline in the sales of shopkeepers. This in turn, resulted in the decrease in the size of business activities in the country.

Keeping aside all the political differences and controversies with Pakistan, trade relations with Pakistan needs to be dealt quite sensibly, where the calculation of gain and loss should be preferred to mere sentimental statements. In international politics as well, two politically different nations may have good trade relations as it is in the best benefit of their economies and in return, greatly benefit the public. Although China and USA have opposing political viewpoints but they have trade relations of trillions of dollars as these relations are in the best benefit of their citizens.

Unfortunately, many politicians and political analysts or journalists forget the gains of a common shopkeeper or the buyers of lower and middle classes when they talk against the trade relations of two countries. We have all the rights to lodge our complaints against Pakistani policies on the political platform but when it comes to the trade relations, we should not forget the gains of common Afghans. According to Afghan businesspersons and shopkeepers, the boycott of Pakistani products was a grave mistake and it gave a hard blow to already suffering economy of our country. However, in any future day, we must be careful regarding our attitude and decisions about trade relations with any neighbouring countries and give preference to the comfort and gains of our common citizens.