Hormuz disruption, border wars choke Afghanistan’s auto trade
The brakes on the Spin Boldak market first began in October when the border was almost completely closed due to cross-border violence with neighboring Pakistan.
“When the border with Pakistan was closed, we also exported through Iran’s Bandar Abbas port with many difficulties… but there was still a way,” said Abdul Baqi Bina, vice president of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment.
Vehicle parts from Japan and elsewhere that reached Spin Boldak by road via Pakistan were rerouted via the United Arab Emirates, a longer and more costly route but one that at least allowed work to continue.
But then the Middle East war broke out in February, which Bina said “created very difficult problems for Afghanistan.”
The conflict has caused major disruptions to international trade through the Strait of Hormuz, and shipping companies have warned it will take time to return to normal operations through the vital waterway.
Before the wars, parts arriving at Spin Boldak would be assembled on site to make new cars or distributed across the country for repairs. Asadullah, who goes by only one name, said he imports from Dubai and Japan and that conflict has “crippled business” for months.
“We were opening two containers every day in the garden,” he said, sitting next to a spinning fan in his office.
The price of each container rose from about $2,000 to $8,000 after the outbreak of the Middle East war, the 40-year-old told AFP.
Asadullah said more than 30 containers are currently stuck in Japan and the UAE, largely due to disruptions at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, which serves as a major logistics hub.
In May, the World Bank described Afghanistan as “highly vulnerable to external shocks” with a “widening gap between imports and exports” reaching 70 percent of GDP in fiscal 2025.
‘A total loss’
Masoud, who imports parts from Japan, said he has had no business in Iran “since the beginning of the war.”
“We used to import dozens, even hundreds of containers (monthly) … but now it’s down to zero,” he told AFP next to a calculator and accounting ledger.
Some of its containers made it as far as the UAE, but due to rising storage costs, it started sending them back to Japan.
“We have no choice. I don’t see any alternative way; it’s a complete loss,” said Masoud, whose surname is not available.
The outage affected thousands of people working at the Spin Boldak market, such as crane operator Mohammad Naeem.
“If the situation does not improve, I will quit this job and start doing something else,” the 21-year-old actor said.
Men often sat in the dark workshops where cars were built, while the tools and wheels were idle.
Samiullah, a 30-year-old workshop owner who uses the same name, said that they used to produce “5 to 7 cars a week”, but the work was stopped because new parts did not arrive.
“If it continues like this, we will have nothing to do; we will suffer more and more losses,” he said, because he still has to pay his employees.
At a market car dealership, owner Noor Ali was surrounded by a dozen colorful vehicles built with imported Japanese parts.
A month after the last car sale, he said, “Customers have decreased because a small number of containers have arrived at Spin Boldak.”
“I hope they reach an agreement and open the Bosphorus (completely),” he said, surrounded by his unsold vehicles.
