Pakistan clears hundreds of Afghan containers

KABUL Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said on Wednesday.

The clearance process for 700 Afghanistan-bound containers — carrying meat, chickens, eggs and other perishable commodities – began this morning, Khan Jan Alakozai told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Pakistani military officials earlier said the trucks had been stopped on suspicion of carrying supplies for NATO-led troops based in Afghanistan. But Afghan officials and traders rejected the claim as groundless.

Pakistan closed the key supply route after a cross-border attack by the International Security Assistance Force on checkpoints in the lawless Momand tribal region on November.

Alakozai said a joint delegation of the foreign ministry and ACCI visited Pakistan on Monday and discussed the traders’ problems with the officials concerned.

Shortly after the visit, Pakistani announced clearance of the containers laden with commercial goods, he said. “The trucks were allowed as a result of President Karzai’s recent visit to Islamabad.”

Mrh/mud