Strait of Hormuz closure chokes trade and aid for Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — When landlocked Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan started fighting late last year and their border crossings closed, Afghans turned to their western neighbor, Iran, for an alternate to Pakistan’s major shipping hub of Karachi.

They rerouted shipments through Iran's port of Bandar Abbas, but not for long. The port lies on the Strait of Hormuz, where war has stranded hundreds of ships and thousands of their crew. Meanwhile, thousands of Afghanistan-bound containers were stuck in Pakistan.

For Afghan businesses and aid groups, losing both trade routes has been devastating.

The United Nations’ World Food Program, whose Afghan operations include life-saving nutritional supplements for malnourished mothers and children and fortified high-energy biscuits for schoolchildren, has seen transportation costs skyrocket and supplies choked off.

Most of WFP’s nutrition supplies were sourced from Pakistan, the organization said. After that border closed in October, it began rerouting shipments by sea through Dubai and Iran. Now that route is effectively closed as Tehran controls the strait and the U.S. blockades Iranian ports.

The nutritional supplements began to dwindle. By mid-April, they had run out.

“At a time when malnutrition is already at near-record levels, weakened and desperate mothers and children are being turned away from health clinics, as we have no food to give them,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s country director in Afghanistan.

Even before the crisis, the organization had struggled with aid cuts. It has received only 8% of its annual funding this year.

“On top of a funding crisis, conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the border with Pakistan are choking WFP’s operations — blocking supply routes, driving up costs and straining markets at the worst possible time,” Aylieff said in emailed comments.

Now supplies must be routed by land through Central Asia, far from any ocean. WFP’s transportation costs have tripled, while its cost of supplements for malnourished mothers and children has jumped by 35%, Aylieff said.

The outbreak of the Iran war in late February saw one of the organization’s shipments of high-energy fortified biscuits stuck in the United Arab Emirates.

Instead of being shipped from Dubai to Iran and into Afghanistan, it has been taking a long, circuitous route through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea into Turkmenistan, the organization said.

It’s been on the road for three months.

Lutfullah Akbari runs a small company in Kabul importing construction equipment. With his supplies from China stuck on ships unable to transit the Strait of Hormuz and costs for the logistics company transporting them rising, “I have nothing else to use to continue my business here,” he said.

He’s now considering abandoning his cargo if the waterway doesn’t reopen soon.

“The Iran-U.S. war has had a huge impact on my business,” he said. Other traders have rerouted shipments through Central Asia, but it's longer and more expensive.

“The logistics company now wants more than the value of our goods and the capital we had invested in them. We can’t afford it,” Akbari said.

“Even if I bring them here, I’ll have to sell them all at a loss. I can’t afford to lose twice.”

Gul Meer Amini, director of logistics at freight company Etifaq Bamyan International Transport and Trade Forwarding, said the Iran war has dramatically increased costs. Some of the cargo his company handles includes humanitarian aid.

Before the war, the cost of renting a container was about $3,000 to $3,600 per shipment but it has now surged to over $7,000. For some goods, it has topped $11,000, he said.

“The impact is reaching all traders,” Amini said.

Mohammad Murtaza Ishaqzai, who sells electronics in Kabul, said delivery for his goods from China via Iran cost about $1,100 to $1,500 before the war. That’s now shot up to more than $15,000.

“We can’t export and we can’t import,” he said, and appealed to the Taliban government to resolve its conflict with Pakistan, which would allow border trade to resume.

If the situation continues, he said, “our business will be finished.”

Afghanistan's Commerce and Trade Ministry spokesperson Abdul Salam Jawad said overall price increases in the country had remained low, at around 3%, thanks to continued trade with Iran and the sourcing of many imports from Central Asia, Russia and China.

“The problem we faced was the restrictions on our imported goods and containers coming from other countries” via Iran, he said. “We are waiting for a solution to be found in the Strait of Hormuz so that we can export normally."

Khan Jan Alokozai, senior adviser to Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment, said more than 60% of Afghanistan’s trade is now through Central Asia, mitigating the Iran war’s overall impact.

Food and petroleum products are coming in through Central Asia and Russia, while much trade is now being conducted via Turkey, with goods then transported by rail through Iran or Azerbaijan, Alokozai said.

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece.

FILE.- Afghan women care for their children in the malnutrition ward at Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai,File)

Vendors sell potatoes at their stall in a street market in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Mohammad Murtaza Ishaqzai, sells electronics in his shop in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

A general view of a road commonly used by cargo trucks entering eastern Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Supply trucks are parked inside the Kabul Customs yard in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan health authorities on Monday reported two new Ebola cases, bringing the number of infections to seven.

All the cases are linked to the outbreak in neighboring Congo, which appears to have started several days or weeks before Congolese authorities declared it on May 15.

A 59-year-old Congolese man was admitted to a hospital in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, on May 11, and died three days later, before it was known he was suffering from the Ebola virus. Two other Congolese nationals who sought medical care in Uganda later tested positive for Ebola.

Ugandan health authorities on Saturday confirmed the first local infections: a driver and a health worker exposed to the Congolese patient who died on May 11. Two more health workers at a private hospital in Kampala have since tested positive, the Ministry of Health said Monday.

“Both patients have been admitted to the designated treatment unit and are now receiving care,” Dr. Charles Olaro, the national director of health services, said in a statement.

President Yoweri Museveni has urged Ugandans to “ stop shaking hands ” as part of measures to avoid infection. He also ordered the postponement of an annual religious event that attracts thousands of pilgrims, from Congo and elsewhere, who converge around a Catholic basilica just outside Kampala by June 3.

Other measures include the temporary suspension of all public transportation and flights between Congo and Uganda.

In Congo, suspected Ebola cases have topped 900, mainly in eastern Ituri province where the ongoing outbreak is centered, authorities said Sunday. The response has been hampered by fear, anger and frustration among locals including attacks on treatment centers, as well as distrust of authorities in a region long plagued by armed violence.

Congo has had more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks over the decades. Health experts say international aid cuts last year by the United States and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo because of the region's unique problems.

Aid groups fighting this Ebola outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need, such as face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits, and body bags and other materials needed to safely bury the bodies of victims, which can be highly contagious.

The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment. The outbreak has been declared a global health emergency.

Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever.

A family of fruit bats is believed to be the natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.

A general view of a busy street in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

People walk out of the Ministry of Health's Headquarters in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)