Recent Business Issue Between Afghanistan and Iran

Iran, after Pakistan is the second major business partner of Afghanistan's.

Recently, there have been talks that Afghanistan is going to end its business partnership with Iran. It is being said while according to the 2010 business record, the business income in between Afghan and Iranian businessmen has reached to 900 million dollars which obviously Iran benefited overall 75% of it and the government of Iran has anticipated that their income forecast will reach to one milliard dollars soon. For the past few decades Afghanistan has been a crowded consumer market of Iranian products. In exchange Afghan exporters have provided Iranians’ needs to agricultural products such as fresh and dry fruits, vegetables, home-made stocks and etc. But unfortunately due to the borders-policy and the tariff Iranian charge on Afghan exporters has very much lowered the amount of these exports.

Even though this decision is not still finalized, there are some obvious drawbacks and a little benefit seen if it is to actualize. Apparently Afghanistan would be the one bearing more economical harms than Iran since a lot of products are imported from Iran, and of course the economical instabilities would increase around the country. And those consumers who spent Iranian product would have hard time getting their satisfaction from Pakistanis or Chinese product. But it doesn’t mean that Iranian would not be the victim of this decision. Iran too would be affected economically since Iran is not part of most global business markets today due to political issues and Afghanistan is their most consuming customer. And that there are two very terrifying business rivals against Iran, especially when it comes to business in Afghanistan and the two other business partners, Pakistan and China “rivals of Iran”. The record shows that 30% of Afghanistan’s petroleum consumption comes from Iran which means if Afghanistan were to import these needs from the two major rivals of Iran, Pakistan and China, then Iran would be of course to lose the huge income they would get from Afghanistan. Besides, if this decision gets actualized, the number of Afghan refugees in Iran would double which is an unbearable burden for Iran. And also the illegal importer and exporters would increase which makes the transmission of illegal products like drugs easier and this is in harm of Iran and neither is beneficiary for Afghan government.

I think there are also some political parties who are against Iran in any way and want not only business partnership but also all the relationships with Iran to be abolished. They always look to grab such opportunities and get their own wants. The governments of Iran and Afghanistan both should think beyond these slight issues, and look for stronger relationships since they both need each other.