The government of Pakistan is seeking to import Afghan coal via Kharlachi and Ghulam Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in addition to Chaman station in Balochistan, a Pakistani Newspaper Dawn said.

The move to import Afghan coal for use in power stations at two plants -- Hubco and Sahiwal plants -- is made based on the new agreement, Dawn said, referring to the recent visit of the Pakistani delegation to Kabul.

The Afghanistan Chamber of Agriculture and Livestock (ACAL) said that exports of coal will cause on and off traffic blocks at Torkham and Spin Boldak crossing points.

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said it has been trying to address the problems of the Afghan traders.

“We are trying to provide facilities in Torkham, Kharlacha, Ghulamkhan, Spinboldak and Chaman to address the problems of our traders,” said Ismatullah Burhan, a spokesman for the Afghan ministry.

“If we make a contract with them, this contract will be based on important currencies,” Buhran said.

“The Torkham gates do not have the capacity for exporting all the materials including coal, fruits and vegetables, and thus we ask the Islamic Emirate--as they promised us--to reopen other ports such as Ghulam Khan and Kharlachi for the coal,” said Mirwais Hajizada, deputy head of the ACAl.

The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment said that the reopening of the new ports will benefit Afghanistan.

“The decision of the Islamic Emirate and the Ministry of Finance is to export all mine-extracted material, particularly coal, through Ghulam Khan and Dand-e-Patan as well as Angora Ada ports. These ports are located in Paktia, Paktika and Khost province,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the ACCI.

Based on the statistics of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Afghanistan exports 8,000 tons of coal daily to Pakistan.