Trade Corridors and Cross-Border Threats: An Analytical Study of Afghanistan’s Reliance on Pakistan

This paper looks into the dependence of Afghanistan on Pakistan as the main transit route and how the interdependency of trade cuts across the rising transboundary security issues. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan relies on the ports of Pakistan, as its location is superior, its infrastructure better, and the cost is lower than in Iran or Central Asia. The study provides an analytical examination of geography, transit law, and Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) to show that Pakistan has in the past given broader economic facilitation to Afghanistan, but relations have been under strain due to chronic problems such as smuggling, diversion of transit goods and militant activity. Recent anti-smuggling crackdowns and security-related restrictions enforced by Pakistan are thus attempts to reduce abuse, not legitimate trade. It is concluded in the paper that durable transit collaboration demands that Afghanistan responds to Pakistan’s security issues.