The general character of the trade conducted between Afghanistan and India is indicated by the appended list of the principal imports and exports with their values during the last three years in lakhs of rupees:

Exports from Afghanistan.
1902-03. 1903-04. 1904-05.
Lakhs. Lakhs. Lakhs.
Cattle 31.31 23.61 33.29
Other animals 36.66 24.41 38.38
Drugs and medicines, including charas 24.01 23.98 20.72
Fruits, vegetables and nuts 37.69 28.59 31.01
Grain and pulse (largely rice) 1.37.73 1.36.64 1.49.78
Hides, skins, and horns 26.70 26.49 35.41
Provisions: ghee 82.78 53.09 64.05
Pickled tea 15.02 17.62 22.06
Seeds (chiefly linseed and rapeseed) 53.28 39.97 34.80
Silk 25.69 20.10 17.44
Spices 13.86 20.25 17.17
Wood and timber, chiefly teak 74.60 86.31 1.22.35
Wool, raw 32.92 23.91 27.05
Woollen goods 14.19 9.47 11.16
Imports into Afghanistan.
1902-03. 1903-04. 1904-05.
Lakhs. Lakhs. Lakhs.
Cotton, raw 12.76 12.49 7.60
Cotton yarn
Foreign 35.68 32.58 28.28
Indian 26.11 25.63 33.30
Cotton goods:
Foreign 1.78.57 1.55.28 1.50.31
Indian 64.37 52.60 63.34
Grain and pulse 10.35 18.65 17.39
Metals, mainly brass, copper, and iron 33.10 25.27 30.42
Oils 13.12 11.34 13.50
Provisions 21.47 20.49 19.43
Salt 43.14 31.42 31.46
Silk goods 11.24 9.54 8.22
Spices 16.69 16.76 14.04
Sugar 32.20 25.04 27.04
Tea 13.20 11.73 10.69
Tobacco 12.82 10.16 12.10

If India conducts with Afghanistan a trade which, although subject to fluctuations, enjoys considerable prosperity, the flow of commerce from the Trans-Oxus region towards the same markets is by no means contemptible. Indeed, articles imported into Afghanistan from Moscow, Merv, Bokhara and Samarkand figure in every bazaar in the Herat and Afghan Turkestan provinces. This trade passes through the customs stations of Kelif, Chushka Gusar, 40 miles to the east of Kelif, and Termes, 34 miles to the east of Chushka Gusar, the former of which is the principal seat of Russian Customs on the middle Oxus. Trade between Afghanistan and Russia has never been altogether prohibited by the Kabul authorities, Abdur Rahman permitting kafilas to travel by the routes on which he had established customs posts. On goods purchased in Russian territory by Afghan traders a rebate equal to the tax levied by the Amir’s officials is granted. Further, customs dues on goods imported from Afghanistan have been reduced by 50 per cent. Russian trade is therefore making rapid progress. The value of the goods which passed through the Russo-Afghan posts was £450,000 in 1902. To-day it probably exceeds half a million sterling. The import into Central Asia of goods from India has been strangled by the high Customs’ tariff of the Russians, plus the heavy transit dues in Afghanistan itself. The agents of Russian firms at Kelif and Chushka Guzar state that they can now compete successfully with British Indian trade in Northern Afghanistan owing to the comparative cheapness of transport from Europe, which means that the Trans-Caspian and Orenburg-Tashkent lines of railway are carrying Russian merchandise at specially low rates. None the less, the Russian traders complain of the Afghan transit dues, as their imposition causes delay on all the principal caravan routes and adds enormously to the transport charges. With the advantages which Russia now possesses, unless a determined effort is made to save the situation for the benefit of Indian trade, we may presently expect her to renew her efforts to open up direct relations with Kabul in order to obtain greater facilities for commerce. It may be, too, that it will be in this manner rather than by active aggression that she will seek to lessen British influence in Afghanistan, and even to raise complications with the Amir.

The principal Russian commodities are:

In silk, linen and cotton goods the Russian fabrics are quite equal to those articles of Anglo-Indian manufacture which find their way into the country. Russian chintzes are more durable and of coarser texture than the Anglo-Indian article; although less elegant in appearance and of colours that are not so fast, they meet with a ready sale among the poorer classes. The silk goods imported from Bokhara are of Russian manufacture, but they might well be superseded by better and cheaper importations from India. Silk handkerchiefs of various colours, and even black ones, are in great demand. Foreign silks do not sell so readily as certain lines in cotton and linen fabrics, since Kandahar, Herat and Kabul possess their own silk looms, each loom paying an annual tax of 23 rupees to the State. The articles manufactured by the native looms are plain silks, called kanavaz; red, yellow and purple durahee of slighter texture, less width and of the same colours; suga khanmee of large and small widths, with perpendicular white lines on a red ground; dushmals or handkerchiefs, black and red, with white spots, bound by females around their heads; and broonghees hummam, for the bath. To meet the demands of the Kabul market, raw and spun silks are imported from Bokhara, Kandahar and Herat, but the great bulk of either variety required by the Kabul looms comes from districts in the Kabul province. Velvets and satins are imported from both sides of the frontier; but wherever Indian or British goods meet the products of the Russian market in Afghanistan, the bounty-fed trade of Russia in Central Asia enjoys a conspicuous advantage.

Certain imports from Russia and India suffer from competition with the Kabul made product. In this respect the trade in gold and silver lace from Bokhara and India has fallen away very noticeably, although the quantity despatched from Bokhara still exceeds that imported from India. The trade in leather has also suffered by the development of local tanneries, but importations of the raw material are still necessary on account of the demands of the factory where the military equipment is made.

The trade in paper comes almost solely from the Russian market and quantities are imported from across the Oxus. The paper is of foolscap size, of stout, inferior quality and white or blue in colour. There are two assortments: glazed and unglazed. The blue glazed variety is preferred, the unglazed kind usually being sized at Kabul. A busy trade in this commodity passes between Kabul and Kandahar, the Russian product having captured the market to the practical exclusion of all other brands. The paper needs to be stout to allow facility of erasure; on this account, and with reference to the nature of the ink employed, glazed paper is most satisfactory.

The attention of the people is directed to the land rather than to trade and a very large proportion of the population takes naturally to cultivation. Farming is divided between the production of fruit and the growth of cereals. The Afghans are a fruit-loving people; in certain districts fruit, both in its fresh and preserved condition, forms the staple diet of a large section of the population throughout the year. A rapidly growing export in fresh and dried fruits exists with India. Indeed, so important has this industry become that, in the country round Kandahar, a marked increase in the number of orchards and fruit gardens has taken place within the last five years, the presence of the railway at New Chaman and its extension to Nushki making the exportation of fresh fruit not only practicable but profitable. Fruit farming is divided between orchard fruits, with which vegetable farming is usually combined and those fruits which may be grown in fields on a large scale. In the one class are apples, pears, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, grapes, figs, quinces, pomegranates and mulberries, in addition to walnut, pistacia, the edible pine and rhubarb, which grow wild in the northern and eastern highlands. Vegetable produce, which holds a high position in the export trade, includes most domestic vegetables; while, of the uncultivated vegetable products, the castor-oil plant, the mustard, sesame and assafœtida grow in great abundance. The fruit fields also produce several varieties of melons, including musk, water and scented melons, cucumbers and pumpkins.