RASC News Agency: Mohammad Younus Mohmand, the Deputy of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment for the Taliban group, recently asserted that the seizure of containers owned by Afghanistani traders at the port of Karachi by Pakistan, coupled with the levied fines, has resulted in these traders incurring losses amounting to millions of dollars. Mohmand, addressing the media on Thursday, December 21st, conveyed that the cost of detaining each container has amounted to approximately “$18,000” in fines. He further noted that the containers remaining in the port of Karachi, Pakistan, contain “valuable goods.”
According to him, traders compelled to redirect their container routes outside Pakistan have faced additional expenses of up to $2,400. This is in contrast to the prior announcement by the Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce on November 28, indicating the release of nearly three thousand containers of transit goods for Afghanistani traders detained in the port of Karachi from October 3rd, to November 16th. It is noteworthy that approximately 550 more containers containing assets of Afghanistani traders remain on Pakistan’s blacklist, and they have not been granted permission to proceed. Pakistan’s blacklist encompasses 212 commercial items, and Afghanistan is prohibited from transiting them.
These statements arise at a time when the Taliban group concedes that, following their assumption of control over the country, poverty and unemployment have significantly escalated among families. Concurrently, with the onset of winter, the influx of Afghanistani refugees expelled from neighboring countries is anticipated to intensify. While the Taliban group has historically enjoyed a positive relationship with Pakistan, recent tensions have cast shadows and heightened specific aspects of these relations.
