By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister met with Pakistan’s foreign minister in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss trade and how the thousands of Afghan citizens Pakistan is expelling could take cash and other assets back to their homeland.
The meeting came amid strained relations between the two Asian neighbors, as Pakistan intensified its crackdown on undocumented migrants after the expiry of a Nov. 1 deadline it gave to all undocumented foreigners last month to leave the country.
Pakistan is forcing all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country, citing security reasons. The expulsion order followed a series of suicide bombings in Pakistan this year that the government said involved mostly Afghan nationals.
Pakistan has been grappling with a surge of militant attacks since a fragile truce with the Pakistani Taliban collapsed last year. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who launch cross-border attacks on its security forces and civilians, a charge that Kabul denies.
The move has drawn criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies, as well as from the Taliban, who say militancy is an internal matter for Pakistan and have urged Islamabad to halt its deportation of Afghan citizens.
The visit by Nisar Ahmad Azizi, the Afghan commerce minister, took place less than a week after the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, blamed the Taliban government in Afghanistan for the recent surge in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and called it a reaction to the deportation drive.
Pakistan hosts about four million Afghans, of whom 1.7 million are undocumented.
Azizi arrived in Islamabad on Monday to attend a tripartite meeting with officials from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, the Afghan Embassy said in a statement.
The embassy said the delegation discussed bilateral trade, especially the issue of Afghan traders’ goods stranded at the Karachi port. It also said the two sides talked about the “smooth transfer” of properties belonging to Afghan refugees to Afghanistan and related matters.
Afghan citizens returning to Afghanistan have said there are restrictions on the transfer of cash and property to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where many had built businesses and homes for decades.
Pakistan has imposed strict restrictions on the movement and assets of undocumented foreign nationals, mostly Afghans, as it faces its own economic woes.
According to the government officials, the families of undocumented foreigners cannot carry more than Rs50,000 in cash at a time.
“Bilateral trade, especially the stranded goods of traders in Karachi port, smooth transfer of refugees’ properties to Afghanistan and related issues were discussed,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, in a post on social media platform X, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Jalil Abbasi Jilani, the foreign minister, “reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan.” “FM said full potential for regional trade and connectivity can be harnessed with collective action against terrorism.”
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