The government will deliver an additional 20,000 MT of wheat to the food-insecure landlocked Afghanistan via Iran's Chabahar port after sending 40,000 MT of wheat to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan via the Pakistani side of the border.
According to Taliban sources, the first shipment of 2,500 MT of wheat supplied through Chabahar port is expected to reach Herat this week. India has dispatched its first shipment of food supplies to Afghanistan this year.
In a landmark decision, and a peace outreach to the Taliban that seems to have served India well, the government had approached Islamabad in 2021 to allow India to send 50,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan via the land border with Pakistan. The Taliban persuaded Islamabad under the leadership of then-PM Imran Khan to allow the Indian government to use the land route for wheat supply after putting aside their previous animosity for India. The Taliban sent an ambassador to India last month to try to improve relations. Otherwise, Pakistan does not permit trade from India to Afghanistan and other central Asian nations to pass through its territory. However, the amount of wheat India could supply to Afghanistan in the time frame set by Pakistan was only 40,000 MT. The remaining 10,000, and an additional 10,000 MT of the grain, is now being dispatched to Chabahar for delivery to Afghanistan.
Like all major powers, including Russia and China, India hasn’t recognised the Taliban government in Kabul but it hasn’t let that come in the way of efforts to help Afghanistan deal with humanitarian challenges.