Growing Demand for Tajik-Afghan Border Trade

Despite concerns about instability in neighbouring Afghanistan, the authorities in Tajikistan have opened special border markets where traders from both countries come to exchange goods at wholesale prices.

At one market in Badakshan province, IWPR interviewed a boy selling cumin seeds brought all the way from Kabul. The Afghans who come here say clothes, footware and fruit from Tajikistan are their favourite purchases.

Many of the traders from Tajikistan want to see markets like this one open several days a week instead of just on Saturdays. The authorities are considering the request, and plan to launch more markets along the frontier.

Security is tight, with Tajik border guards and police controlling access to the market and keeping an eye on who is coming and going.

This audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.