ABSENCE of a vibrant transport policy, illegal and high official levies and poor infrastructure in Afghanistan are hampering regional transit trade.
Transporters and traders involved in Afghan transit trade say that Pakistan cannot capitalise its geo-strategic position for promoting regional trade unless irritants relating to the logistics inside Afghanistan are addressed.
The two decades of conflict has left Afghanistan with a ravaged infrastructure and the growing security constraints further aggravate the situation. Some efforts are being made to rehabilitate the infrastructure with external financial assistance.
Impediments to inter-regional trade came to the spotlight when the Pakistani and Afghan transporters resorted to wheel jam strike last week. They stopped supplying goods through all land routes linking Afghanistan to the outside world.
"We are now fed up and are no more in a position to pay exorbitant taxes, in the form of road tax, toll tax and annual tax to the Afghan government, which in return give us nothing," says Haji Abdur Rehman, president Afghan Transporters Association in Peshawar.
At present, shipments whether under transit trade or export reach the Afghan capital Kabul via four different land routes that pass through Qandahar, Nangerhar, Khost and Mazar-i-Sharif provinces.
These routes link the landlocked Afghanistan with Pakistan, Iran and Uzbekistan. Around 600-700 trailers cross the border through these points daily.
From Pakistan, major shipments under transit trade and regular exports across the border are routed via Torkham, Chaman and Ghulam Khan custom stations. Alone from Torkham 400-450 trucks cross the border daily.
The transporters operating on these routes say that heavy levies are being collected by Afghan authorities that ultimately increases overall transport cost and often make the service 'unfeasible' for them.
They complain usually that a trucker, for example in one trip, has to pay Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 as taxes and extortions to the Afghan authorities and commanders at different points from Torkham, Pak-Afghan border to Kabul.
The heavy tax collection from the transport sector is unjustified, as a trucker entering from Torkham has to pay Rs8,000 as toll tax, which include Rs4,000 each for entry and exist despite the fact on way back to Torkham vehicles are empty.
Similarly, commanders of various localities in Afghan provinces have levied taxes on commercial and public transports at different rates..
In Pakistan, they say transporters pay Rs3,000 within three months to the government, while they have to deposit Rs1,20,000 to Afghan authorities annually under various heads such as registration fee, token fee etc.
Poor road infrastructure is another impediment that multiplies the logistic related problems in the war-ravaged country. Afghanistan has undertaken a massive infrastructure investment effort to rebuild the network of roads that will be an important factor in facilitating trade.
According to reports, the ongoing initiatives involves the rehabilitation of around 3,300 km roads, consisting of the ring road leading from Herat to Qandahar, Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Sheberghan, Meymaneh and back to Herat, and six international routes to neighbouring countries.
During last couple of years, Kabul-Qandahar, Kabul-Jalalabad and Torkham-Jalalabad roads have been rehabilitated, while work on many other projects is in progress. However, transporters complain that the heavy transport is not allowed on most of the newly built roads, which ultimately causes difficulty.
"The newly-built Kabul-Jalalabad road offers a secure and swift movement to the goods carriers; however, commanders managing such road allow only those transporters to operate on this road, who pay Rs8000 to Rs10000 as extortion. Otherwise, they have to opt for alternative roads, which are in dilapidated condition," says another Afghan transporters.
In addition to illegal taxes, the transporters are also exposed to insecurity on such routes, where torture at the hands of militiamen deployed on various check posts is not uncommon.
"The drivers are usually stopped at gunpoint and huge amounts are demanded by the commanders soon after crossing the border. Drivers and owners of trailers are physically tortured whenever they refuse to meet their demands," Abdur Rehman explains.
Traders involved in Afghan transit trade and exports believe that Afghanistan is a potential destination for traffic between central and south Asia because its routes offer shorter distances for inter-regional trade.
However, they opine such types of roadblocks and illegal demands for payment within Afghanistan's borders are certainly the major obstructions in the overall growth of regional trade.
Gul Afzal Shinwari, president Pak-Afghan Traders Group, says the Afghan government must focus on trade facilitation and address the concerns of transport community for enlargement of regional trade, which, he believes, can offer a win-win situation for all the stakeholders.
