Afghan trade unharmed by US sanctions on Iran

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AT-KABUL: The sanctions recently announced by the US government on Iran would not hurt Afghan business, the government said, citing “different sources” link Kabul to the world markets.

President Ashraf Ghani’s Spokesman, Shah Hossein Mortazavi, said Tuesday that the sanction could hurt some other regional countries’ economy.

“As the closure of Pakistan border did not affect foodstuff and other essentials in Afghanistan, we will not be hurt if our other neighboring country comes under sanctions,” said Mortazavi.

Iran has become the biggest business partner for Afghanistan in the past two years, according to reports.

The Afghan Chamber for Commerce says that Afghanistan is not a productive country and imports its essentials from abroad. It said foodstuff, clothes, construction materials, iron, oil and machineries are imported from Iran.

AzerakhshHafezi, head of the chamber’s international relations believes that the US sanctions on Iran would not put serious impact on Afghanistan economy in importing of oil and other essentials, but it hurts over one million Afghans who live and work in Iran.

“The Afghan workers quickly lost half of their savings just after Iran’s currency fell against the US dollar. This is the biggest impact from the sanctions,” Hafezi said.

Another economist, Sayed Massoud also says that Afghan workers would be the most victims of the sanctions. “Afghans will need to leave Iran under the economic pressure and return home. This will be a crisis in the current situation,” Massoud said.

“Another impact is the smuggling of currencies from Afghanistan, political problems that come out of religious beliefs and the Chabahar port that is a replace for Karachi port”