Over 14,000 Afghanistan-bound containers loaded with transit trade and Pakistani export goods are stranded at Chaman and Torkham border crossings and Karachi port due to the closure of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The commercial attaché at the Consulate-General of Afghanistan has also raised the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, regarding the containers carrying Afghan transit cargo containing medicines, foods and other items of basic needs being stuck at Chaman and Torkham borders as well as at Karachi Port for the last 30 days and the advice of the government of Pakistan to Afghanistan to make arrangements on its side of the border to quarantine drivers for 14 days before allowing them back into Pakistan.
The stranded containers include those of transit trade stuck at Chaman border, 351 of transit trade at Torkham border, 2,000 of export goods from Pakistan at Torkham and Chaman borders and nearly 10,000 containers in transit stuck at the Karachi Port.