KHYBER: After a four-year pause, sugar exports to Afghanistan have resumed, with more than 400 cars passing through the Torkham border in the past four days.
Sources claim that Pakistan just approved the transfer of 150,000 tons of sugar to Afghanistan, with a deadline of August 15 for the cargo procedure to be completed.
Agents in charge of customs clearance at Torkham informed that around 100 cars, each with 33 tons of sugar, entered Afghanistan four days prior, and that number continued to rise.
According to authorities, the government imposed the prohibition on sugar exports four years ago in order to handle shortages and manage national pricing.
To stop the smuggling of sugar, the police and the administration of the Khyber tribal area have set up several checkpoints along the Peshawar-Torkham Highway. Following the prohibition, it apprehended several sugar traffickers and confiscated a significant amount of sugar from warehouses in Torkham and Landi Kotal.
The illicit transportation of sugar across the border, where there is a huge demand for it, is accomplished by traders using a variety of means, including porters and young, small daily wagers. As a result, police were unable to stop the smuggling of sugar.
The removal of the embargo has caused a sigh of relief among sugar exporters and transporters, who claim it hurt them hard.
Contrary to the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce’s claim that the Taliban government has banned the supply of fruits and vegetables to Pakistan following a recent increase in import duties by Pakistan, customs clearing agents and fruit importers at Torkham told Dawn that 100–115 vehicles carrying fruits and vegetables were arriving in Pakistan from Afghanistan every day.
According to sources, no warning of a prohibition was received, and fruits and vegetables were being imported from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of empty Afghan trucks without temporary admittance papers (TAD) have clogged the border route, stranding multiple-goods vehicles on the Pakistani side of the border for the last two to three days.
Published in Bloom Pakistan, July 24th, 2024
