The Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mullah Baradar, announced in a press conference today that the Afghan government has decided to end all economic and trade relations with Pakistan.
He urged Afghan traders to seek alternative trade routes and partners instead of relying on Pakistan.
Mullah Baradar stated that the majority of current trade with Pakistan consists of pharmaceutical imports, and all importers have been given three months to settle their accounts:
“After three months, the Ministry of Finance will neither tax nor allow the import of medicines from Pakistan,” he said.
He further added that Pakistan has not conducted trade with Afghanistan in accordance with fair principles over the past four years, and that it repeatedly closed border crossings whenever Afghanistan’s fruit export season began.
He emphasized that if Pakistan wishes to reopen trade routes with Afghanistan, it must provide a firm guarantee.
With this announcement, it appears that the Taliban have officially ended trade and transit relations with Pakistan.
Significantly, on the other hand, the Deputy Minister of Interior and a member of the negotiation team with Pakistan, Rahmatullah Najib, says that during the talks, the Pakistani side demanded that the Islamic Emirate issue a fatwa declaring the ongoing fighting in Pakistan as illegitimate.
Rahmatullah Najib added that the mediators also supported this demand because they were not fully aware of the sensitivities between the two countries.
However, Mr. Najib said that the Afghan delegation agreed in principle to the idea of issuing a fatwa but clarified that the authority to issue such a decree lies with the Darul Ifta (Religious Council), and their decision would not be based on anyone’s wishes but strictly according to Islamic law — something that might not have been acceptable to the Pakistani side.
He further stated that these discussions eventually led to the negotiations ending without any results.
