“Traders cost $200 per day as goods bound for Afghanistan are stuck at ports in Pakistan.”

A Pakistani business association reported on Tuesday that thousands of import shipments headed for landlocked Afghanistan are stuck at Pakistani seaports or border crossings, forcing traders from the two nations to pay up to $200 per container every day in shipping detention fees and port demurrage.

“There is a $5 billion potential for bilateral trade,” Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Junaid Makda told reporters.

In addition to changing the economic landscape of South and Central Asia, Makda’s association, which represents traders and businessmen from Pakistan and Afghanistan, is tasked with promoting peace and reducing militant bloodshed.

“By 2018, we had progressively grown the bilateral trade to $2.69 billion, which is now down to a few million dollars,” he added.

Bilateral commerce between the two bordering states increased by more than 40 percent to $804.3 million in 2024–2025 compared to the previous year, according to official estimates. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan’s imports totaled a pitiful $25.9 million, while its exports to war-torn Afghanistan totaled $778.4 million.

Amid the worst border skirmishes since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, this bilateral trade ceased last month.

Previously, the official figures showed that the two nations exchanged commodities valued at $166 million over the first three months of the current fiscal year till September. But in the midst of military exchanges that started in October, the trade came to an abrupt end.

Makda expressed concern that the cessation of legitimate trade might lead to border smuggling, saying, “The quantum of our business [with Afghanistan] has declined to less than a billion dollars during the last one month.”

The Pak-Afghan joint chamber said that the border opening was causing significant losses to Pakistan’s economy and trade, and earlier this week, it wrote to the country’s commerce ministry to ask for its prompt involvement.

In the letter, Makda stated, “Thousands of containers have been stuck inside Pakistan due to these border closures, including a very large volume of cargo belonging not only to Afghanistan but also to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states.”

Makda claimed that the continued war and “prolonged closure of the border crossings” were causing a “severe crisis” for local commerce.

“Our Pakistani traders are bearing the full brunt of all financial losses, as they are required to pay daily port demurrage charges and shipping line detention charges, which total between $150 and $200 per container per day,” he stated.

Makda added that people were losing their employment due to the violence and that cars carrying transit and export shipments had been detained at the Pakistan-Afghan borders for approximately a month. Makda demanded a complete waiver of the demurrage and detention charges at Pakistani ports.

He claimed that “export operations to Afghanistan have completely stopped, impacting industries, freight forwarders, transporters, laborers, and ultimately the national economy.”