Taliban Commerce Minister Seeks Trade Alternatives On Visit To Iran
Taliban Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi has travelled to Iran following the group’s decision to halt trade and transit relations with Pakistan.
Taliban Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi has travelled to Iran following the group’s decision to halt trade and transit relations with Pakistan.
During the one-day visit, Azizi is scheduled to tour the port of Chabahar and take part in a joint Iran–Afghanistan economic meeting in Hirmand.
Azizi was received at the border on Saturday by Mansour Bijar, the governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. Speaking to ISNA, Bijar said expanding bilateral cooperation would help support sustainable development and regional security. He added that shared cultural, religious and linguistic ties could facilitate increased trade and investment.
The visit comes after Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, urged Afghan traders to find alternatives to Pakistan’s ports and markets. Baradar ordered an immediate halt to medicine imports from Pakistan and directed the Taliban Finance Ministry to give traders a three-month deadline, after which such imports would no longer be cleared at customs.
Afghanistan’s annual trade volume with Iran is estimated at about $4 billion, a figure that could rise if commercial ties with Pakistan remain severed. The Taliban have said they intend to replace Pakistan’s ports, including Karachi, with Iran’s ports of Chabahar and Bandar Abbas.
Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady, a former Afghan finance minister, told Afghanistan International that Iranian ports are not more cost-effective than Pakistan’s, saying the cost of importing and exporting goods through Iran is 20–30 per cent higher. He noted that transporting goods to Afghanistan’s central and eastern provinces, such as Kabul and Nangarhar, would not be economical. However, he said Pakistan has repeatedly restricted trade routes, prompting the Taliban to search for alternatives.
Ahady also cited US sanctions on Chabahar, arguing that Iranian ports are not fully reliable for cargo transit. He said the Lapis Lazuli Corridor remains Afghanistan’s most dependable route for foreign trade.
Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan have sharply deteriorated. Trade and transit routes between the two countries have been closed for more than a month, with no signs of reopening or normalisation.
