11 September 2004	Saturday	25 Rajab 1425

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The World Bank has appointed three Pakistani officials for setting up an effective customs administration system in Afghanistan.

An official source in the CBR told Dawn that the team appointed for the project included the Customs Collector Amir Muhammad Khan Marwat, Additional Collector Dr Jawwad Owais Agha and Assistant Collector Aftab Ahmed.

The team would make customs tariff and procedures for Afghanistan. For controlling the transit trade, Pakistan had already prepared customs tariff for Afghanistan. But the then Afghan government did not respond favourably to the effort.

Pakistan had also prepared the customs tariff in Dari language, which could also be used as a source of information for making an effective system. Since there is no check-post on the Afghan borders to stop the smuggling of goods and narcotics and its smuggling back into the neighbouring countries, the tax authorities would also prepare anti-narcotics and anti-smuggling laws for it.

Moreover, a data bank would be established within the taxation system for the compilation of the data related to exports and imports, added the official.

Currently, the CBR officials were also providing training to 22 Afghan customs officials and trainers to update their knowledge on handling the goods in transit and clearance of goods.