Monday, July 24, 2000 -- Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1421 A.H.

Rupee replacing Afghani in its hometown

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani rupee has almost become legal tender in Afghanistan and
both buyers and sellers now prefer Pak currency than their own currency Afghani.
During recent visits to Kandahar in southwestern Afghanistan and to Jalalabad in
the east of the war-ravaged country, this correspondent witnessed transactions
being openly carried out in the Rupee.

Passengers of buses and taxis paid their fare in Rupee and drivers were happy to
accept the Pakistani currency. "It is cumbersome to carry the worthless Afghani.
We feel it more convenient to be paid in the Rupee," said a minibus driver
Nauroz Khan.

At the money-changers' markets in Kandahar and Jalalabad, the Rupee is the most
sought-after foreign currency. Though the American dollar, British pound, Saudi
riyal, Kuwait's Dinar, UAE's dirham and other currencies are also exchanged at
these markets, it is the exchange rate of the Afghani vis-a-vis the Pakistani
Rupee that establishes the value of Afghanistan's currency for the day and
drives the Afghan economy.

"Most transactions here are carried out by exchanging the Afghani with the Rupee
and vice versa," informed Ghulam Dastagir, a leading money-changer in Jalalabad.
The Afghani has become so weak that one Pakistani Rupee can now buy about 1100
Afghanis. Twenty years of war, triggered by the communist coup in Afghanistan
in April 1978 and fuelled by the Soviet invasion of the country in December
1979, has destroyed its infrastructure and economy and made the life of the
Afghan people miserable.

Natural calamities like earthquakes, floods and now drought have made matters
worse. The proverbial last straw on the camel's back were the US-sponsored
economic sanctions imposed by the UN against Afghanistan as punishment following
refusal of the ruling Taliban to expel Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to
undergo trial in the US in terrorism charges.

Besides the universal acceptability of the Rupee as an unofficial legal tender,
Pakistani products and goods are also in great demand in Afghanistan. Only in
western and southwestern Afghanistan the Pakistan-made consumer items face some
competition from Iranian products. In northern Afghanistan, there is an
inexhaustible demand for Pakistani products even though it isn't always possible
to replenish the stocks there owing to the closure of the Salang highway linking
Kabul with Mazar-i-Sharif by anti-Taliban military commander Ahmad Shah Masood.

The News International, Pakistan