Seen from Karachi, severed Kabul trade is paid for by border traders

In an editorial dated 20 October 2026, the Karachi-based Dawn takes stock of the first year of Islamabad cutting commercial ties with Kabul on security grounds. By the paper's account, trade between the two countries collapsed by more than 72%, from $1.3 billion in fiscal 2025 to $358 million in fiscal 2026. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa carries the heaviest cost. A province that already struggles to attract investment because of terrorism has lost an established market. That market rested on traders moving food, cement and medicine, and on the health tourism and hotel business serving Afghan visitors. Farmers and factories in Punjab and Sindh have been hit as well.

The editorial insists the problem is not bilateral trade alone. Pakistan's shortest overland routes to Central Asia run through Afghanistan, and the alternatives mean longer distances, higher freight and thinner margins, so exports to Central Asia have been badly disrupted too. Dawn accepts that Islamabad's security concerns are legitimate and writes that the Taliban must stop Afghan territory being used for attacks on Pakistan. Even so, it argues that a closure running for a year has punished citizens of both countries who have no part in Kabul's policies. The paper calls for genuine security guarantees from Kabul and tightly supervised arrangements for legitimate trade. It also wants the losses borne by traders, transporters and farmers accounted for, and new markets found for the businesses affected.