Importing From India to Afghanistan

In November 2025 Afghanistan's commerce minister sat in New Delhi and summed up his country's trade problem in three sentences. "Pakistan has closed their borders. When we found a new route via Chabahar, they imposed sanctions," he said, talking about the US (ThePrint, 21 November 2025 (opens in a new tab)). That's the whole page in a nutshell. The paperwork for a preference exists. The road doesn't.

So this is a short page, and we'd rather keep it short than pretend. If you're an Afghan importer, or you're shipping Indian goods to someone there, here's what we could confirm about the agreements and the routes. The caveat - nearly everything below is volatile, and we haven't found an official source on whether the preference is honoured at the Afghan border today.

Last researched 28 September 2026 · Next review 24 November 2026 · Written by SourcingFrom

The decision in brief is in the playbook: Exporting and trade → /india/#trade. The shared SAFTA rules are on the SAFTA bloc page.

1. A 2003 Agreement Nobody Can Confirm Is Working

India and Afghanistan signed a Preferential Trade Agreement at New Delhi on 6 March 2003. It comes into force 30 days after both sides notify each other, and either side can end it with six months' notice. India's Commerce Ministry still lists it under "Agreements already concluded" (commerce.gov.in listing (opens in a new tab), read 23 September 2026). Afghanistan is also a SAFTA member.

What we can't tell you is whether Afghan customs applies either preference after 2021. No official page we could reach says so, one way or the other. Treat any preferential rate as Unknown until your broker in Kabul confirms it on a real entry.

2. The Road Is Shut, So Goods Fly or Go Round

The overland route through Pakistan is the natural one, and it isn't open. The Attari-Wagah crossing is closed to this trade, and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border posts were shut from 11 October 2025 (Outlook Business, November 2025 (opens in a new tab), ThePrint (opens in a new tab), both Reported).

That leaves two routes. The first is air. Kabul-Delhi and Kabul-Amritsar cargo corridors were reactivated in late 2025 (same sources), which suits light, high-value goods like medicines far better than bulk. The second is Iran's Chabahar port. India prepaid its Chabahar commitment before the US sanctions waiver expired on 26 April 2026, and the port was reported damaged in strikes on Iran after that (StratNews Global, 12 July 2026 (opens in a new tab), Reported). An industry source put the alternative routes at "nearly three months" to reach Afghanistan (Outlook Business, as above).

Our read? For now this is an air-freight trade for anything that isn't bulk, and a sanctions question for anything routed through Iran. Get a view on sanctions from your own adviser before you book Chabahar.

3. Back to the Minister

He wasn't asking for lower tariffs. He was asking for a road. Until one opens, the agreement matters much less than the route and the payment, and we haven't researched how Afghan importers pay Indian suppliers today. That's the next thing to check, before samples.

Next Step

Every Indian agreement is on India's trade agreements.