Taliban Burn Over 10,000 Kilos of Medicine in Helmand as Shortages Persist
The burning of more than 10,000 kilograms of human and animal medicines in Helmand comes as Afghanistan’s market faces rising prices and medicine shortages after Taliban restrictions on imports from Pakistan. Local Taliban officials in Helmand said the consignment was seized in Garmser district and set on fire under a court order issued by the administration.
The Taliban governor’s media office in Helmand said in a statement on Saturday, 21 September, that the shipment included 9,917 kilograms of human medicine, 334 kilograms of animal medicine and 212 kilograms of medical bandages. According to the administration, the medicines had entered Afghanistan over the past two months and were destroyed in the Reg Safar area of Garmser district.
The Taliban did not specify the country of origin of the medicines, but it has previously reported seizing smuggled pharmaceutical shipments from Pakistan. Local Taliban officials in Helmand also said on 8 July that they had prevented the smuggling of 12 tonnes of “illegal medicine” from Pakistan to Afghanistan in the space of a week.
Taliban customs officials in Helmand have warned importers not to bring in “smuggled” Pakistani goods and said violators would face legal action. The measures follow the Taliban administration’s decision to ban medicine imports from Pakistan, a move taken after tensions with Islamabad escalated.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban administration’s deputy economic chief, said on 22 November this year that traders should complete customs clearance and trade transactions with Pakistan within three months. The Taliban Finance Ministry has also “completely” stopped the customs clearance of Pakistani medicines at Afghanistan’s border posts since 20 February.
Findings by Afghanistan International show that three months after the Taliban’s order to end medicine trade with Pakistan, medicine prices in Kabul rose by as much as 40 percent. Even after the official halt in trade, importers continued to bring medicines in from Pakistan through smuggling.
According to the report, after halting trade with Pakistan and amid medicine shortages and rising prices, the Taliban turned to imports of medicines from India and Iran. Experts say medicines imported from Iran and India do not meet Afghanistan’s market needs and that their quality is generally not on par with medicines imported from Pakistan.
Garmser district is one of the districts of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a province considered one of the main transit routes for goods along the border with Pakistan.
