ANI
31 Jan 2023, 06:55 GMT+10
Washington [US], January 31 (ANI): Money exchangers on both sides of the Durand Line have bolstered the Afghanistan-Pakistan US dollar cartel by manipulating trade, both actual and forged, according to a report by US-based The Diplomat magazine.
The Diplomat said the black market is dominated by the flow of US dollars across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which unifies the economic crises of the two countries.
Currency notes are often found hidden in vegetable trucks with perishable goods passing through the Green Channel. These trucks dodge customs scanners. U.S. currency is smuggled via food items ranging from orange crates to beetle nut sachets, claimed the report.
Those involved in dollar smuggling have used the hawala system to monopolise currency in the region, the report said, adding that through the hawala system, money is transferred without any physical movement of cash or documentation.
The system helps sustain a parallel economy without any government regulations, in turn maintaining ground for illegal monopolization by cartels.
In interviews with The Diplomat, money exchangers in both Afghanistan and Pakistan insisted that the dollar cartel isn't a monolith, and sustains itself with cooperation between sections of the traders and currency markets. A consistent exchange rate is used for systematic hawala transactions, with anyone involved in the currency trading business along the Af-Pak border being a participant, active or passive, according to the report.
"We deserve the cut that we get in all this since the market forces determining the interbank exchange rate do not factor in the violent forces enforcing their own regulations," an exchanger from Kabul's Sarai Shahzadeh market, one of the hubs for the dollar cartel's dealing, told The Diplomat.
Those working in these markets, which face regular crackdowns from the respective regimes, further revealed how sections of the authorities are facilitating the cartel.
"Of course, the Pakistani border forces too are involved in the illegal trade with Afghanistan," former Finance minister of Pakistan, Salman Shah, told The Diplomat.
"Similarly, many times, the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement is misused by authorities, where goods never arrive in Afghanistan and are consumed in Pakistan without any duties and taxes. But these transactions allow Afghanistan to finance other goods. This is how the unofficially integrated [Af-Pak] economy is sustained," he added.
Al Arabiya Post recently reported that the recent unearthing of unabated smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan using orange crates has sent ripples among the policymakers in Islamabad. Policymakers in Pakistan are alarmed by the failure of the enforcement agencies to put an end to currency and goods smuggling, it added.
Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, while chairing an emergency inter-ministerial meeting to review the smuggling, asked relevant authorities to come up with a roadmap to stop the cross-border smuggling and protect Pakistan's economic and financial stability, said a report. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Africa Leader news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Africa Leader.
More InformationIn Warsaw last February, President Joe Biden condemned the lawless Russian invasion of Ukraine: "The idea that over 100,000 forces ...
TOKYO, Japan: Fears over intensifying Chinese military activity directed towards Taiwan could escalate into war have prompted Japan, the United ...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: After Honduran President Xiomara Castro severed ties with Taiwan in favor of China to gain more investment and ...
NEW YORK, New York - A Manhattan grand jury has indicted Former U.S. President Donald Trump for his role in ...
MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Tennessee authorities are slowly releasing information about a weekend car crash on a freeway that killed six young ...
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Officials from Indonesia's Aceh province said that more than 180 Rohingya Muslims landed this week by boat, in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks finished the third quarter with a bang on Friday. Despite a volatile start, ...
CUPERTINO, California: In a move aimed at disrupting the fintech sector dominated by Affirm Holdings and Sweden's Klarna, this week ...
BURBANK, California: Walt Disney has begun its planned lay off of 7,000 staff, which was announced earlier this year.A letter ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: A study published this week reported that China spent $240 billion between 2008 and 2021 ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks posted a decent rally on Thursday with all the major indices making good ...
FREMONT, California: Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant company, has approached the Barrow Neurological Institute, one of the largest US neurosurgery ...