Pakistan Auctions Hundreds of Containers Carrying Afghan Traders’ Goods at Karachi Port

Pakistani customs authorities have put hundreds of containers carrying Afghan traders’ goods up for auction at Karachi Port, citing high taxes, storage charges, and delays that have left the shipments stranded amid prolonged trade disruptions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The BBC reported on Saturday that images released by an auction company showed containers opened and their contents displayed to potential buyers. Afghan trader Matiullah told the BBC that the auction process had begun several days earlier. The images circulating on social media showed goods ranging from household appliances and electronics to textiles and food items laid out for inspection, offering a stark visual record of a trade relationship in crisis.

Afghan Chamber of Commerce officials have condemned the move, describing it as contrary to regional and international trade laws. They argue that the auctions amount to a unilateral disposal of private property and have called on Pakistani authorities to halt the process pending a negotiated resolution.

Origins of the Standoff

The auction comes after the closure of major trade and transit routes between Afghanistan and Pakistan disrupted the movement of goods and left Afghan shipments stranded at Pakistani ports. Traders have faced mounting costs as their cargo remained uncleared, with storage fees and demurrage charges accumulating daily at Karachi and other ports.

Earlier this year, Pakistani authorities allowed Afghan traders to remove stranded goods from the country’s ports or arrange for their shipment to other destinations. At the time, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries said about 15,000 containers and consignments belonging to Afghan traders were at risk of being auctioned.

According to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 percent of those goods have since been returned to their countries of origin, while some shipments were redirected to Iran’s Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports. The remaining consignments, however, have become entangled in a cycle of unpaid fees and administrative hurdles that traders say they cannot overcome.

Traders Caught in the Middle

Younus Mohmand, an Afghan trade representative, said the goods now being auctioned were among the consignments traders had been unable to retrieve because of high taxes and storage costs. “These are not abandoned goods,” Mohmand said. “They belong to traders who want nothing more than to clear their cargo and bring it home, but the costs have become impossible to bear.”

Matiullah said traders had received notices before their goods were put up for auction. He added that owners could still approach the courts to seek to stop the sales, though legal avenues remain uncertain given the cross-border nature of the dispute and the limited time before auctioned goods are sold.

The total number of Afghan-owned containers still stranded at Karachi Port remains unclear. Although thousands of containers were removed following Pakistan’s earlier decision, traders are believed to have cargo remaining at the port, with estimates varying widely depending on which trade body is asked.

A Broader Diplomatic Rupture

The dispute reflects the wider impact of deteriorating relations between Kabul’s Taliban authorities and Islamabad. Pakistan has said border restrictions are linked to security concerns, accusing militant groups of operating from Afghan territory — a charge the Taliban government denies. Taliban officials, for their part, have accused Islamabad of politicising trade and transit, using commerce as leverage in a broader diplomatic standoff.

The prolonged closure of crossings has sharply reduced cross-border commerce. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that bilateral trade fell from $1.3 billion in the 2024–25 fiscal year to $358 million in 2025–26, a decline of about 74 percent. The disruption has also pushed Afghan businesses to seek alternative routes through Iran and Central Asia, a shift that traders warn could become permanent if the impasse continues.

Regional Ripple Effects

The rerouting of Afghan trade toward Iran’s Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports, as well as through Central Asian corridors, represents a significant realignment of regional commerce. Pakistani port and transport operators, who have historically benefited from Afghan transit trade, are among those feeling the economic pain. Meanwhile, Iranian and Central Asian logistics firms have moved to capture market share, offering alternative routes that Afghan traders say are becoming increasingly viable despite higher costs and longer transit times.

Repeated rounds of talks between the two sides in Doha, Istanbul, and Riyadh have yet to restore normal trade flows, leaving traders on both sides facing uncertainty and additional costs. Each round of negotiations has produced pledges of goodwill but no durable mechanism for clearing the backlog of stranded shipments or preventing future bottlenecks.

For the traders whose containers now sit under the auctioneer’s gavel in Karachi, the diplomatic maneuvering offers little comfort. Their goods — and the livelihoods tied to them hang in the balance as officials in Kabul and Islamabad continue to search for a way out of a crisis that has already reshaped the economic map of the region.

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