KalaiKhumb: For Afghans living under Taliban rule, the Saturday market is a rare opportunity to cross the border into neighboring Tajikistan to pick up food and household items.
The popular bazaar in the small town of Kalai-Khumb – about a six-hour drive east of the Tajik capital Dushanbe – has reopened after being closed after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Tajikistan, which shares a winding 1,350-kilometer (840-mile) border with Afghanistan, considers the Taliban a terrorist organization.
But that didn’t stop white-bearded Afghan Subhanuddin Haji Qash from stocking up on the basics last month.
“Here we can buy clothes, sweets and tea – even building materials,” said Haji Qashem, who is in his 60s.
“We’re really happy that the market has reopened.”
From woolen carpets and saffron to washing powder and chickens, the market in a deep mountain gorge along the Pyandzh River sells almost everything.
The turbulent brown waters of the river mark the border between the two countries.
In Tajikistan’s eastern Gorno-Badakhshan region, Kalai-Khumb is surrounded by the peaks of the Pamir Mountains, which rise to over 4,000 meters (13,000 ft).
On the north bank of the river flew the Tajik flag – a red, white and green tricolor decorated with a crown and stars.
A white Taliban flag with the Islamic creed written in black flew over the rusty bridge on the south side.
Such places of cross-border trade are rare. Along the border, in these isolated and impoverished areas, less than 10 of them sell vital items and support the local economy.
“The market has been open since 2004 but had to close due to Covid and political instability in Afghanistan,” Tajik local official Dilovar Kosimi told AFP, referring to the return of the Taliban to power in the summer of 2021.
The closure “was a really cruel blow,” said Bahram Rahimi, an Afghan stall selling dried fruit.
“We couldn’t buy basic goods or sell our products,” he said.
The market reopened briefly in September 2023, but closed again when Tajik authorities announced that they had killed “three terrorists from Jamaat Ansarullah”, a jihadist group active in the border zone, in a nearby area.
The now reopened bazaar was closely watched by a number of Tajik law enforcement officials: plainclothes Secret Service agents, uniformed police and armed border guards.
Border guards were checking entry to the market and systematically confiscating cellphones from Afghans, AFP journalists, who had rare access to film the market, saw.
Despite the surveillance, residents from the opposite banks of the Pyandzh willingly communicated and traded.
Dari, the form of Persian spoken in Afghanistan, is almost identical to Tajikistan, and it is estimated that more than a quarter of Afghanistan’s 40 million people are ethnic Tajiks.
The Afghans in the market stood out from the Tajiks with their turned up woolen Pakol caps, baggy trousers and beards.
“We order from each other what we need,” said 28-year-old Afghan rice seller Muhammad Chafak Azizi.
“There is a market on the Afghan side, but in Tajikistan we can buy food that you can’t find here,” Azizi said.
He said he could “earn up to 25 euros” ($27) working at the market.
The United Nations reports that 85 percent of Afghans live on less than $1 a day.
The return of the Taliban and the declaration of an Islamic emirate halted international aid to Afghanistan amid a humanitarian crisis.
Dushanbe estimates last year’s trade turnover with Afghanistan at $97 million, mostly from the sale of electricity to Kabul.
However, political dialogue between neighbors is also minimal.
Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon is described as “the leader of Tajiks all over the world” on a huge sign on a mountainside overlooking Pyandzh.
He regularly criticized Afghanistan’s dealings with the Tajiks.
The Saturday bazaar is only open for a few rare hours.
Shortly before 1pm, whistles blew as Tajik law enforcement officials ordered buyers and sellers to disperse – all Afghans had to cross a bridge before the call to prayer.
Trading died down and the stalls closed and waited for the next Saturday.
For Tajik furniture seller Firuz Abdulloyev, a narrow trading window is enough.
The reopening of the market was “a real lifesaver”, he said.
