PESHAWAR: Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, on Wednesday urged Afghan traders and industrialists to end their reliance on Pakistan for imports and exports and seek alternative routes within three months, warning that the government would no longer take responsibility for problems arising from commerce through its southern neighbor.
The directive underscores the breakdown of trust between the two neighbors, whose relations have plunged as Islamabad accuses the Kabul government of harboring the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which frequently claims attacks against Pakistani state targets.
The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has remained closed since last month following deadly clashes between the two nations and Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghan territory. Relations are likely to grow even more strained after a suicide bombing in Islamabad this week that killed 12 people and an attempted assault on a cadet college in the country’s northwest, which Pakistan has blamed on militants operating from Afghan soil. Kabul denies it harbors insurgent groups.
“All the country’s traders and industrialists should seek alternative routes for trade… those items that we were buying in Pakistan, now other markets and countries be explored,” Baradar said during a meeting with traders in Kabul.
