August 5, 2026
By Islam Gul Afridi
TORKHAM
A continuous closure of the Pak-Afghan trade route border for the last 10 months has pushed the border economy to the brink of collapse. Records show as a result, not only have Pakistan’s exports and transit trade suffered an estimated loss of billions of rupees, but thousands of families on both sides of the border have also been left struggling to put food on the table. Business leaders, transporters, and laborers have repeatedly demanded the immediate reopening of the border, and are now threatening to march to Islamabad if their demands are not met.
Historic decline in exports
According to the Ministry of Finance’s Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26, Afghanistan—which was once among Pakistan’s top 10 export markets—saw its trade significance severely impacted between July and March. Afghanistan’s share in Pakistan’s total exports dropped significantly from 4.3% to just 1.5%.
Pakistan’s primary exports to Afghanistan included medicines, cement, steel rebar, flour, rice, sugar, fruits, vegetables, and textile products. Due to the route closures, thousands of cargo trucks and transit containers remain stranded at the Torkham, Chaman, Ghulam Khan, Kharlachi, and Angoor Ada border crossings. The closure of the Torkham border alone resulted in a loss of US$ 45 million in bilateral trade in just one month, and after 10 long months, the cumulative deficit has assumed alarming proportions for the national economy.
Afghanistan shifts toward Iran’s Chabahar port
According to economic experts, the fallout of this crisis extends far beyond trade figures. Thousands of transporters, customs clearing agents, laborers, and warehouse owners across the border districts of Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan, and Balochistan have lost their livelihoods.
On the strategic front, the biggest setback is that Afghanistan has shifted a major portion of its international trade to Iran’s Chabahar Port and Central Asian routes (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan)—severely undermining Pakistan’s standing as a regional transit hub.
Porters unemployed for 10 months
For years, 60-year-old Aziz-ur-Rehman earned a living through daily wage labor at the Torkham border, but he has been completely unemployed for the past 10 months. He attends every protest at Bacha Khan Chowk in Landi Kotal in the hope that the border might reopen so he can earn a living again.
“All border crossings remain shut,” says Rehman. “We labourers are sitting idle at home. We have to buy everyday groceries on credit and are now buried in debt up to our necks. Wars are happening elsewhere in the world, yet we are being punished by having our Pak-Afghan border closed. What is our fault? We are vulnerable people who live hand-to-mouth.”
Along with low-income labourers, customs agents and major traders are edging toward bankruptcy. Addressing the demonstration, Merajuddin, Chairman of the Customs Clearing Agents Association, stated bluntly: “Everyone associated with Pak-Afghan trade has been economically ruined. Transporters, laborers, traders, and customs agents all relied on border trade as their sole source of income. It is tragic that the state is turning a blind eye to its people’s pain. If the state is our protector, why has nothing been done for 10 months to alleviate this severe hardship? Billions of rupees belonging to our traders remain stuck due to this border closure.”
Threat of a march on Islamabad
Protests by traders, political leaders, and business owners are gaining momentum across Landi Kotal and other parts of the Khyber District. Demonstrators point out that the shutdown has not only erased local employment but is also depriving the national treasury of hundreds of thousands of dollars in daily taxes and customs revenue.
Giving the government a firm deadline, business leader Shah Jahan warned: “We demand that the government take immediate and concrete steps to restore border trade with Afghanistan unconditionally. If no progress is made soon, we will mobilize traders, transporters, and laborers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—and subsequently from all border regions across the country—for a major protest march toward Islamabad.”