“Our carpets are made of wool as they keep our homes warm. For us Afghanis, culture and necessity run in the same direction,” he mentioned, whereas naming the worth of a cumbersome scarlet carpet held up by a buyer. “Silk isn’t suitable for us, and our woollen carpets have long durability. Our apparel, dry fruits and carpets are things that help us survive the country’s climate,” he added.

Navid mentioned the aim of carpeting is totally different for the 2 international locations. In India, it’s much less about sustaining temperature and extra about being trendy, he mentioned.

Navid’s is likely one of the many Afghani stalls which have resurfaced at IITF after an unsteady two years of the pandemic and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The final time he got here to Pragati Maidan was in 2019 as a result of the truthful didn’t happen in 2020 and enterprise wasn’t nice throughout final yr’s lockdowns. Many Afghani merchants promoting dry fruits, carpets and handicrafts, who had been based mostly in India, went again residence final yr, witnessed the federal government topple, and had been unable to return as a consequence of visa restrictions.

“Their businesses couldn’t continue, so many others chose to stay in India,” mentioned Navid. “In the first two months of the regime change, there were many logistical issues with imports and exports, and I had to reroute them through different areas.”

Navid’s buying and selling challenges had been shared by others on the truthful, together with Parvez, a dry-fruits proprietor, who mentioned earlier, items could be traded by air, however now one flight runs out and in of Kabul every week. “Getting goods through the Pakistan border was expensive, so importing and exporting became more costly, though some routes have reopened,” he mentioned. He got here to IITF final yr and mentioned this yr’s footfall is analogous.

After attempting to coax a purchase order out of a police officer who peered into his mulberry carton, a dry fruits’ proprietor at Noor Khan Abri Ltd agreed that imports have gotten costlier and vacationer flights usually helped carry items for commerce. A Delhi-based distributor of Afghani dry fruits, nonetheless, mentioned she has not observed a lot change in bills, although transportation and logistics undoubtedly needed to be reworked. “But the quality of the dry fruits hasn’t changed at all,” she added.

Zabiullah, one other dry fruits dealer, who has been coming to the truthful for seven years, agreed: “The quality is great and at the same rate that Indians like.”

But he added, “Everything has changed in Kabul. Things have become very difficult for women. Girls can’t go to work… school. The Taliban doesn’t allow them.”

Close to the exit of the stall, the odor of raisins from Kabul, dry figs from Kandahar, and different dry fruits like Munakka, walnuts, cashews and white Mamra almonds from throughout Afghanistan flood the customer’s senses in a flurry of sweetness and sugar. But many shoppers most likely don’t consider the land their imminent purchases develop in, one nonetheless nursing sores from very current wounds.