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Spin Boldak, Afghanistan: After a week of violence, residents on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan are hoping a new ceasefire deal will end the clashes and revive crucial cross-border trade.

While the crossings remain closed, life has regained a semblance of normality, with bakers kneading bread, fruit and vegetable sellers wheeling out their carts, and customers frequenting shops.

"People can breathe and feel relieved. (But) before that, gunfire damaged a few houses in our village," said Sadiq Shah, 56, a shopkeeper from Baizai on the Pakistani side.

Fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan broke out after explosions in Kabul on October 9.

The Taliban government blamed the blasts on its neighbour and launched a retaliatory border offensive, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response.

After further clashes left soldiers and civilians dead, the two sides declared an initial 48-hour ceasefire on Wednesday.

New Pakistani strikes hit Afghanistan on Friday, with Islamabad saying it was targeting armed groups that the Taliban harbours and allows to launch attacks on Pakistani territory -- a claim that Kabul denies.

The two sides approved a second ceasefire on Sunday, to the relief of many along the border.

"It's incredible: both sides are Muslim, (ethnic) Pashtuns, so why fight?" said Shah.

"Previously, trade with Afghanistan went through here, and now we're shooting at each other. What country does that?"

'Losing money'

The border only opened temporarily this week to admit Afghan migrants expelled by Pakistan under a campaign that it launched back in 2023.

In the Pakistani town of Torkham, a normally busy crossing point into the Afghan province of Nangarhar, stranded drivers bought tea from a vendor as they waited in colourful trucks.

More than 1,500 trucks, trailers and containers carrying cement, medicines, rice and other basic goods are waiting in Torkham, according to a senior Pakistani customs official in nearby Peshawar.

Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesman for the Taliban's economy ministry, said fruit and vegetables were rotting as they awaited export to Pakistan.

"Businessmen are losing money," he said, without giving an estimate of the damages.

Habib warned that if this situation persisted, "it could increase prices and unemployment, and destabilise markets".

"Trade relations should be separate from political issues," he told AFP.

After the peace talks in Doha, Qatar's foreign ministry said the ceasefire deal provides for "the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace", but their details have not been disclosed.

Niaz Mohammed Akhund, a 39-year-old car salesman in Spin Boldak, an Afghan town where fighting flared last week, said "people here are very happy with the ceasefire".

"(They) have no farmland or other source of income -- everyone depends on cross-border trade, on both sides," he said.

Nematullah, a 24-year-old vendor, also told AFP he hoped "this problem won't resurface".

Across the road on the Pakistani side, market worker Imran Khan called on the two countries to establish a "mechanism to end these conflicts and to start treating each other like brothers".

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has amended its barter trade framework to restrict transactions under the business-to-business (B2B) mechanism to Afghanistan, Iran and Russia, tightening oversight of non-cash trade conducted outside the dollar system, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce this month.

Pakistan first introduced the B2B Barter Trade Mechanism through SRO 642 in June 2023, enabling trade in goods such as energy, food and minerals with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.

The updated order now limits eligible partners, imposes new compliance obligations and integrates sanction-screening requirements aligned with the Foreign Office notifications.

“This Order shall apply to Afghanistan, Iran and Russia only,” the notification, dated Oct. 17, said.

The amendment also introduced new definitions and responsibilities for traders.

“‘Sanctioned entity’ means any individual or company that is prohibited from engaging in trade activities due to the enforcement of trade prohibitions by the United Nations (UN) and others, as notified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from time to time,” it stated.

Under the revised framework, Pakistani traders must reconcile the value of goods quarterly and within a specified timeframe.

“The Pakistani trader shall be responsible to net-off value of goods on a quarterly basis, within one hundred and twenty days of the transaction allowed by the concerned regulatory Collectorate of Customs in the authorization,” the document said.

The notification further specifies that all companies forming part of a trading consortium share liability for tax or customs violations.

“In case of a consortium of traders, all entities who are part of a consortium shall be jointly and severally responsible if found involved in or having committed any offence or failed to pay duties or taxes under the Customs Act, 1969.”

The move to operationalize barter trade is seen as a response to Pakistan’s acute foreign-exchange crunch and the need to bypass traditional dollar-based trade channels.

Key export items under the mechanism include agricultural products, textiles and leather goods, while permitted imports cover crude oil, LNG, fertilizers and industrial machinery.

"Many concerns of business community of both Iran and Pakistan have been taken into account and addressed in the new SRO," Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan's ambassador to Iran, wrote on X.

"We hope it will substantially elevate Pakistan-Iran trade & diversify its base. I urge industry and business community of both countries to take full benefit from the new SRO and help expand the bilateral trade. I also urge Pak-Iran Chambers and Trade bodies to share this SRO with their members enabling them to gain mutually-beneficial trade dividends."