Gholam Yahya Meshkwani, one of Afghanistan’s dried fruit traders, complains about rising transit costs and delays in moving goods through Iran’s Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports. He says this situation has created serious challenges for the country’s traders, and in some cases, the high cost of transit has risen so much that the revenue from selling goods does not even cover the cost of transporting them. According to him, Afghanistan’s traders currently lack access to safe, fast, and low-cost transit routes, and this has created serious problems for the export process.
Meshkwani says: “Previously, most of Afghanistan’s exports were carried out through the Torkham and Spin Boldak routes, but after these routes were closed, traders were forced to use the Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports. In the past, transporting one container cost around five thousand dollars, but now that figure has reached around 40,000 dollars. Previously, a shipment would arrive at its destination in about 40 days, but now its transport takes four to six months, and sometimes even the arrival time is not clear.” He adds that the cost of transporting goods by air cargo has also been steadily rising.
Ghulam Muhammad Kohdamani, one of Afghanistan’s fresh fruit and vegetable traders, also complains about rising transit costs and delays in transporting goods through the Iran route. He says Afghanistan’s commercial shipments sometimes remain stalled at routes and ports for weeks, a situation that causes part of the produce, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables, to spoil and inflicts heavy losses on traders. According to Kohdamani, in the process of transporting goods through Iran, Iranian shipments are given priority over Afghanistan’s goods, and this has caused further delays in the transport of Afghanistan’s commercial goods.
This trader says: “The rental cost of cargo trucks has nearly doubled, and finding a truck to transport fruit and vegetables has also become very difficult. The rental cost of refrigerated trucks has reached around 120,000 Afghanis, and Iranian trucks charge between 280 and 300 million Iranian tomans to transport goods from the Rimdan border to Pakistan. These costs have placed heavy pressure on Afghanistan’s traders. Cargo trucks also wait between eight and 10 days for clearance due to congestion at the Rimdan border. In this process, Iranian shipments are given priority, and Afghanistan’s goods are transported with delay. In addition, each truck is charged between five and 10,000 afghanis per day under the name of ‘sleep money’ due to the stop at the border.”
Kohdamani adds that the collection of additional fees under the name of “overnight stay” from cargo trucks has further increased the cost of transporting goods. He also says that due to security concerns and attacks on cargo trucks along the Mirjaveh route, Afghanistan’s traders are unable to use this crossing, and most of Afghanistan’s goods are now transported through the Rimdan route.
Kohdamani says: “Most of our goods are transited through Iran, but the Mirjaveh crossing on the Iran border and Taftan on the Pakistan border are practically unusable due to insecurity and attacks by armed Baloch individuals on cargo trucks. Now most goods are transported through the Rimdan route, but congestion at this crossing has caused shipments to wait for long periods. A large portion of traders’ goods is at risk of spoiling along this route. The grape harvest season in Kapisa and Parwan has now also arrived, but due to export problems, part of the produce is being sold in domestic markets at low prices, and there is no suitable way to transport it to foreign markets.”
Asad (pseudonym), one of Afghanistan’s dried fruit traders, calls on the Taliban and Iranian officials to take practical measures to reduce transit costs and facilitate the transport of commercial goods. He says that at the same time as the agricultural harvest season, reducing transport costs could benefit farmers and traders and create the conditions for the timely export of Afghanistan’s produce. According to him, rising transit costs have caused a number of traders to export Afghanistan’s produce to foreign markets at a loss.
This trader says: “Transit fares have increased several times over, and this issue requires serious attention. Currently, the cost of transporting air cargo shipments has also risen significantly, and traders are practically operating at a loss. Despite this, we are trying to get Afghanistan’s produce to foreign markets during the harvest season so that the market for these products can be preserved.” He also criticized the difficulty of obtaining United Arab Emirates (UAE) visas for Afghanistan’s traders, saying that easing the visa issuance process could help expand the commercial activities of traders.
Following border clashes between the Taliban and Pakistan, Islamabad closed its border crossings with Afghanistan to the transit of goods and the movement of passengers on October 11, 2025. Currently, all crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan remain closed to transit and trade, and on some routes only Afghanistan’s migrant families are allowed to enter the country from Pakistan. Following these restrictions, Afghanistan’s traders have increasingly turned to using Iran’s routes, particularly the Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports, to transport commercial goods, routes that, while providing an alternative option, have come with challenges such as rising costs, delays in transport, and transit problems.
According to statistics from the Taliban’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the volume of trade between Afghanistan and Iran rose by 6.7 percent last year to reach three billion, 632 million dollars. Of this, only 72 million dollars was related to Afghanistan’s exports to Iran.
Following the decline in Afghanistan’s trade relations with Pakistan, Iran continues to be one of Afghanistan’s largest trading partners, but the trade balance between the two countries remains in Iran’s favor, and Afghanistan’s share of exports to Iran, compared to imports, remains very small.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
تجارت افغانستان در سایه انسداد مرزها؛ مسیر ایران هم به چالش بزرگ بازرگانان بدل شد
