Afghanistan returns 'substandard products' imported from Iran, Pakistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) – Afghanistan has returned "substandard products" that were imported from Iran and Pakistan within a month and issued warnings to local traders about possible legal consequences for importing such subpar goods in the future.

The Afghanistan National Standards Authority (ANSA) said in a statement on Saturday that the country has returned 160 tankers of "substandard oil" that were imported from Iran in the course of a single month, as well as returned some 3,000 low-quality batteries to Pakistan.

"In the last one month, 160 tankers of low-quality oil have been returned back to Iran," the authority said in a statement posted on social media platform X.

It said the authority is working tirelessly to prevent the import of substandard goods from other countries into Afghanistan and urged traders to import quality materials or face legal consequences.

On Thursday, the authority said it had returned trucks from the Torkham border crossing carrying 3,000 low-quality batteries from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, Pakistani authorities stopped Afghan drivers from entering the country through the Torkham border without valid visas.

However, the issues were eventually resolved by border officials.

"Three/four days ago, Pakistani authorities stopped Afghan drivers' entry via Torkham border without visa for few hours, but this issue was later resolved," a local Pakistani official told Anadolu over the phone on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with media.

"The drivers asked to get Pakistani visas as soon as possible," he added.

Relations between the two neighboring countries have soared since Nov. 1, when Pakistan launched a crackdown on undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghan refugees, after a one-month deadline expired, and returned approximately 500,000 to Afghanistan in recent weeks.