Iran fuel ban targets Nato but hurts Afghans: Experts
Iran's ban on fuel tankers crossing into Afghanistan over claims they are supplying Nato troops is snaring ordinary Afghans in a complex power game as winter living costs rise, experts say.
Some 2,000 trucks are stranded on the Iranian-Afghan border, Afghanistan's commerce ministry says, in a standoff which has run since early December, heaping more misery on civilians in the war-torn, impoverished country.
Behind it all is Iran's desire to strike out at the international community over its disputed nuclear weapons programme and at Afghanistan over efforts to make peace with the Taliban, according to some analysts.
Nato insists it does not use fuel which has passed through Iran and that the operations of its troops in Afghanistan are not being affected.
But that is cold comfort to ordinary Afghans who, with the first snows of winter on the ground, face paying 40 percent more for fuel than before, plus extra for other day-to-day essentials.
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