Afghanistan's chief exports are natural gas and dried
fruit. Other exports include carpets, fresh fruit, wool, and cotton.
Afghanistan imports food, motor vehicles, petroleum products, and
textiles. Most of the foreign trade of Afghanistan is controlled by the
government or by government-controlled monopolies. The USSR was
Afghanistan's chief trading partner even before the 1979 Soviet invasion,
and this relationship intensified in the 1980s. The leading purchasers of
Afghan products, in addition to the USSR and the former Soviet republics,
have been Pakistan, Great Britain, Germany, and India. In 1991 exports
amounted to about $188.2 million, while imports cost $616.4 million.
