Grain smugglers grab Khyber profits

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-03-050614.html



Grain smugglers grab Khyber profits
By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Jun 5, '14

PESHAWAR - With its lush valleys and well-watered plains, Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province produces plenty of food for the local population, including 10 million tonnes of wheat every year. So why are the people of this bountiful mountainous region going hungry?

The answer lies just across the 2,400-kilometer border that separates the country from Afghanistan, in the food-stalls, shops and grocery stores where the bulk of KP's foodstuffs are sold for hugely inflated prices.

Locals and experts blame the massive smuggling network that whisks wheat out of Pakistan's frontier province, leaving behind an unsustainable demand for - and unaffordable price tags on - the basic commodity, which 65% of the population relies on as a staple.

According to Zahid Shinwari, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industries, KP loses some three million tonnes of wheat to smugglers every year, causing price spikes of over 33%.


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Grain isn't the only thing being smuggled in Afghanistan:
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/15/22316414-afghan-opium-production-on-the-rise-despite-us-troops-inspector-says?lite
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Iran-tries-to-block-Afghanistan-s-opium-boom-5526947.php
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-spoils-of-war-afghanistan-s-multibillion-dollar-heroin-trade/91