A number of businessmen from Kandahar province, in Afghanistan’s south, said the failure by customs officials to clear thousands of containers of imported goods through Spin Boldak from Pakistan, and Herat port from Iran, has had a severe impact on their businesses.

The investors said ‘convoluted’ processes in the customs offices have resulted in a loss of up to 70 percent in trade turnover for them as almost 5,000 containers have not been cleared through Herat and Spin Boldak customs offices in the past three months.

“We call on the Afghan government to resolve the problem of the containers which have been stopped for the past three months; they carry goods belonging to  local investors. The investors are faced with a big problem in this respect,” said Abdul Baqi, one businessman in Kandahar. 

The importers who gathered at their union office in Kandahar on Tuesday said they will stage protests if government remains silent.

“The route (port in Spin Boldak) was closed for one month. They (customs officers) ask us to do many processes which are quite difficult. The goods of the investors have been stopped there and they face many hurdles,” said Mohammad Rasoul, another businessman in the province.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said government has a serious commitment to support the private sector. 

He said such problems in any province will be assessed by the relevant offices.

“The Ministry of Finance continues its efforts to stand by the national investors and not create problems for them. We have directed central and provincial (customs) offices to support the national investors in this respect in accordance with the law,” said Ajmal Hamid Abdulrahimzai, spokesman for the Finance Ministry.

Kandahar investors said they would end up bankrupt if such issues and trade relations between Afghanistan and neighboring countries do not improve.