Exporters fret over Afghan quandary

With Kabul falling into the hands of the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani leaving the country & the ensuing quagmiry, Indian exporters are worried that the bilateral trade between Afghanistan and India will get impacted significantly in these uncertain times. One of the fears pertains to a significant dip in the bilateral trade, while some are jittery over retrieving payments on time.

“It is a landlocked country and the air route is the main medium of exports and that has been disrupted. Trade will resume only after the uncertainty will get down,” FIEO Vice-President Khalid Khan explained. JNU’s Professor Biswajit Dhar added that India’s aid to Afghanistan was creating a market for domestic products and due to the current situation, “all this will stop”. Meanwhile, Chairman of Plastics Export Promotion Council of India (PLEXCONCIL), Arvind Goenka stated that going forward, private players will have to deal through third countries to export to Afghanistan.

Tea, coffee, pepper, and cotton were the key commodities exported by India to Afghanistan, while Afghan exports to India include dried raisin, walnut, almond, fig, pine nut, pistachios, dried apricot and fresh fruits such as apricot, cherry, watermelon, and medicinal herbs.