Cutting Trade Ties With Pakistan Has Not Hurt Afghanistan’s Commerce, Says Taliban

In a joint statement issued after the seventh round of the EU–Pakistan Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, voiced concern over Afghanistan’s worsening social and economic conditions.

They urged the initiation of a political process within the framework of the UN-led Doha process, created following the November 2023 assessment by UN Special Coordinator Feridun Sinirlioğlu. The roadmap outlines steps toward a political process involving a broad spectrum of Afghan political actors.

According to the statement, Islamabad and the EU support a peaceful, stable and self-reliant Afghanistan that contributes to regional security. They also called on the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls, and to protect vulnerable communities.

Both sides further pressed the Taliban authorities to play a constructive role in eliminating terrorism from Afghan territory.

The joint statement said EU and Pakistani officials discussed border tensions with Afghanistan and emphasised the need for regional peace, stability and prosperity, as well as resolving disputes among neighbours through dialogue.

Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have sharply deteriorated following Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan and subsequent deadly border clashes. Islamabad accuses the Taliban of supporting and sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a claim the Afghan Taliban deny. UN Security Council reports, however, have confirmed the significant presence of TTP commanders and fighters inside Afghanistan.

In an interview with the French magazine L’Express, he stressed that what the resistance urgently needs is political support.

In the interview, published on 22 November 2025, Massoud said the Taliban now receive almost the same amount of international aid as the former Afghan republic once did. He said the group is not accountable to global institutions and that the funds are being used to support terrorist networks.

Massoud argued that under the previous government, Afghanistan received about 3 billion dollars annually and had to answer to international oversight bodies. He said the Taliban now receive similar sums but spend them without scrutiny while backing militant groups.

Asked whether Afghanistan has changed since the Taliban returned to power, Massoud said conditions today are “far tougher” than during the era of his father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the anti-Taliban mujahideen commander. He said the Taliban now enjoy greater international support than ever before.

Massoud said the global community has failed to understand the reality inside Afghanistan, adding that Afghans have lost their international allies while the Taliban have gained more support. He said Western countries have shifted their priorities and Afghanistan is no longer at the centre of global attention, but warned that neglecting democracy could lead to another crisis in the next five to ten years.

According to Massoud, the Taliban claim to have trained 25,000 young men in jihadist schools over the past four years, a development he described as a severe and growing threat.

He said his father fought for freedom against tyranny and was the first Afghan political leader to sign a women’s rights charter. Massoud added that the National Resistance Front continues that vision and seeks a democratic, multicultural Afghanistan.

Massoud formed the National Resistance Front after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021. Under his leadership, the group has carried out armed resistance against Taliban forces for more than four years and continues to build both political and military opposition to the regime.

According to the Uzbek presidency, the talks placed particular emphasis on coordinating approaches to Afghanistan’s socio-economic and security challenges.

Wang Yi visited Uzbekistan to participate in a strategic dialogue of foreign ministers. After meetings with Uzbekistan’s president and foreign minister, he travelled on to Tajikistan.

Like most countries, with the exception of Russia, China and Uzbekistan do not recognise the Taliban authorities, though both maintain active diplomatic and economic engagement with Kabul. However, China and the Central Asian states remain wary of the potential spread of extremism and cross-border terrorist threats from Afghanistan.

In June, leaders of China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan issued a joint statement in Astana expressing support for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan free from terrorism and drug trafficking. The signatories also agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism across the region.

The bank said exports rose 13 percent compared with the previous month and 3.7 percent compared with the same period last year, reaching 267 million dollars.

The World Bank attributed the growth to increased exports to India and Uzbekistan. The report added that despite a halt in trade with Pakistan due to border skirmishes, exports were successfully redirected to India and Uzbekistan.

The bank noted that the peak harvest season and relatively low domestic inflation bolstered competitiveness and helped offset losses caused by the disruption of trade through Pakistan.

Food exports in October reached 238.4 million dollars, an 8.6 percent increase from a year earlier, reflecting strong regional demand, the report added.

Pakistan shut key border crossings after recent clashes with Taliban forces, halting trade and transit between the two countries for more than a month.

In response, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs banned the import of medicines from Pakistan and instructed Afghan traders to find alternative trade and transit routes. Following this directive, the Taliban’s commerce minister travelled to Iran to expand commercial ties.

The Taliban have also announced a memorandum of understanding with Uzbekistan for the export of Afghan agricultural products. On 22 November, the Taliban said exports of fresh produce to Uzbekistan and Central Asia had begun through the Hairatan commercial port.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry has previously urged the reopening of border crossings and the resumption of bilateral trade, warning that while trade potential exceeds 5 billion dollars annually, the volume has fallen below one billion due to repeated disruptions.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special representative for Afghanistan, said the group’s actions have weakened its hold on power and created openings for armed resistance movements in the north, including Badakhshan. He added that non-Pashtun communities also form part of an emerging internal opposition.

Durrani said the Taliban have demonstrated an inability to govern effectively or maintain control of the country. He argued that the group has failed across all sectors, including social affairs, the economy and counterterrorism.

Citing international assessments, he said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which he claimed receives support from the Afghan Taliban, poses a growing threat not only to Pakistan but to the wider South and Central Asian region. According to him, Taliban policies have deepened the group’s isolation among neighbouring states and the broader international community, especially due to its continued ban on education for girls and women.

Durrani warned that anti-Taliban groups in northern Afghanistan have become more active, and that the Taliban’s continued approach could strengthen and unite these armed movements. However, he stressed that Pakistan should not involve itself in any regime-change efforts in Afghanistan, noting that past interventions had failed.

He said the Taliban’s treatment of women has made the group “globally despised.”

Amjad Ali Sher, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Cambodia, also addressed the panel. He noted that the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front, led by Yasin Zia, maintain a presence in northern Afghanistan and Badakhshan. He said Badakhshan’s strategic importance, bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan, makes it a focal point for opposition activity.

Sher said attempts to push back opposition groups have had limited success but warned that efforts aimed at regime change “will continue and will not stop.”

Pakistani media have recently highlighted the possibility of a political shift in Kabul, especially after relations between Islamabad and the Taliban deteriorated sharply. Pakistani officials have stopped referring to the Taliban as the “interim government,” instead calling it the “Taliban regime.” Over the past two months, Islamabad has repeatedly raised concerns about the Taliban’s lack of legitimacy and the exclusion of ethnic groups, minorities and women from power.

Three rounds of talks between the two sides have ended without progress. The Taliban rejected Pakistan’s requests for a written commitment to stop cross-border TTP attacks, issue a religious decree against jihad in Pakistan, and hand over TTP leaders. The Taliban maintain that TTP violence is Pakistan’s internal problem.

Following the closure of border crossings by Pakistan, the Taliban cut trade ties in response. They halted medicine imports from Pakistan and have turned to India in search of alternative supplies.

However, former Pakistani envoys at the panel argued that India cannot replace Pakistan in Afghan trade due to geography. Afghanistan and India share no land border, forcing New Delhi to rely on ports in Pakistan or Iran.

The Taliban are seeking to increase use of Iran’s Chabahar Port, but the port remains under heavy international sanctions.