Iran stopped tanker trucks from entering Afghanistan December 10 with no explanation. Iranian border officials simply told their Afghan counterparts they had received orders from Tehran to halt the tanker trucks.
Vice President Qasim Fahim visited Tehran Christmas Day and reported afterward that Iran had agreed to end the blockage and let the trucks through.
Farid Shirzai, the head of the Afghan Commerce Ministry’s Fuel Department, told The Associated Press Tuesday that Iran had allowed only an average of four fuel trucks a day to enter Afghanistan from Christmas Day through January 2 and then allowed only 40 to pass Monday. A huge backlog remains, he said.
How many trucks are stranded remains unknown. Some sources say “hundreds.” The Afghan Pajhwok news agency said 1,600, while The Associated Press reported a backlog of 2,500 as of Tuesday.
The price of gasoline is rising all over Afghanistan. But more importantly, the government said the majority of gasoline stations on the nation’s highways now have empty fuel tanks, meaning that many trucks that bring daily food supplies to Kabul and other urban areas cannot make the trip.
Waheed Omer, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told reporters the blockage was discussed in the cabinet Monday and Karzai told Commerce Minister Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi to go back to the Iranians to get the blockade lifted.
Omer said, “Afghanistan’s cabinet expressed regret that, despite efforts, despite the vice president’s visit to Iran, and despite it appearing that the problem was solved, it has not been.”
Commerce Minister Ahadi traveled to Tehran with the vice president on Christmas Day. He said Iranian officials complained to him that day that part of the fuel from Iran was going to foreign troops in Afghanistan. Ahadi said he thought he had convinced the Iranians that they were wrong and left under the impression that all was resolved and full fuel deliveries would resume swiftly.
The US military says it has never brought in fuel from Iran. It is, in fact, illegal for the US military to buy Iranian fuel, just as it is illegal for any American entity to buy Iranian fuel.
About 30 percent of Afghanistan’s fuel is believed to come through Iran although part of that originates in Iraq and the US military could buy Iraqi fuel.
Iran on Tuesday asserted a link between the blockade and its shift away from fuel subsidies that began December 19. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said the tanker holdup was only temporary and the result of mere “technical problems” resulting from the reduction in fuel subsidies.
“After changes that cut subsidies,” he said, “it is only natural that some technical problems occur when sending fuel to neighboring countries.… That problem is being resolved.”
But the subsidies apply to retail sales, so it isn’t obvious that there should be any interruption in wholesale fuel exports. Furthermore, no other country has reported a halt in fuel imports from Iran.
There have been no reports of the fuel being seized for use in Iran. The trucks are merely being prevented from crossing the border. No Afghan official has reported being asked to pay more money for the fuel either.
The border blockage also began a week before President Ahmadi-nejad announced that fuel subsidies were being lifted.
Another issue between the two countries, one that has been simmering for many months, is the fate of Afghans held prisoner in Iranian jails. Reports of mass executions of Afghans began a year ago and the Afghan government has been trying to get precise information from Iran on how many prisoners are held, how many are on death row, how many have actually been hanged and for what.
But Justice Minister Habibollah Ghalib last week said Iran has ignored numerous requests made over the months. He said he believes there are 5,000 Afghans imprisoned in Iran, the majority on drug charges. He said he understands there are 2,000 to 3,000 foreigners of all nationalities on death row awaiting execution, but does not know how many of them are Afghans.
He said the two countries have several agreements on prisoners but that the Iranians are still declining to send any Afghan prisoners to face trial in Afghanistan as the Afghan government would like.