Abstract
The history of trade, as evolved between nations over the past few centuries, suggests that trade relations ought to be beneficial to both the partners and that gains ought not to accrue to one nation at the expense of the other. In 1965, Pakistan and Afghanistan concluded a bilateral agreement namely Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), whereby Pakistan agreed to provide transit facilities to the goods exported by and imported to Afghanistan. The present status of the trade, as persisted for the last quarter century, is that the term transit has lost its significance, as the value and nature of goods corresponds more to the indicators in Pakistan rather than Afghanistan. Thus appeared the transformation of ATT into cross border re-exports, executed by well-established network, which in the contemporary literature has been assessed as the “biggest smuggling racket in the world”. Its ill effects are felt all over the entire socio-economic and geopolitical setup of the country and measures to curb it has so far proved ineffective. This study has investigated the causes of this menace and found it to have roots in history, politics, culture, society, economy, and administration and communication network and even in the drugs transactions across the Pak-Afghan border. The findings suggest that total efforts on all fronts, national & regional, economic & legal, aggressive and diplomatic are required to overcome the problem.
Sayed Waqar Hussain, ∗ Asmat Ullah,. (2014) The Causes of Transit Related Pak-Afghan Cross Border Smuggling , The Dialogue, Volume 9, Issue 1.
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