Afghanistan urges Pakistan to release 1,000s of containers held at port

An Afghan boy loading his family belongings into a shipping container on a truck, as their family along with others head back to Afghanistan from Pakistan, at the Chaman Border Crossing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border in Balochistan province, Pakistan, on Nov 9, 2023. — Reuters

ISLAMABAD (AFP): Afghanistan urged Pakistan on Tuesday (Nov 14) to release thousands of containers of imports it said were stuck at Karachi port since Islamabad clamped down on transnational cargo.

Pakistan authorities say they have lost millions of dollars in taxes because goods are being sent duty-free from its ports to land-locked Afghanistan, and then smuggled back across the border.