Kabul goods being airlifted to New Delhi

  Closure of Pak-Afghan border

Indian ties with Afghanistan started growing after fall of Taliban; India,
Iran and Afghanistan have signed a tripartite agreement bypassing Pakistan

LAHORE: Now that Pakistan has closed its land route with Afghanistan due to persistent tensions along the Durand Line, Kabul has inked an agreement with New Delhi to airlift trade commodities, including fresh fruits, hence further strengthening India's rebuilding efforts in the embattled nation.

Officials in Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry have said the accord was reached with India after closure of land route by Pakistan the Afghan traders incurred loss of millions.

These Afghan Chamber officials revealed that some commodities including fresh fruits left for India on Tuesday and the Indian government has agreed to exempt Afghanistan from taxes, specifically on fresh fruits.

Afghan news agency “Khaama Press” has reported: “This comes as the main land transit route remains blocked for the past two weeks along Durand Line located near Chaman. The gate was closed after the Pakistani officials claimed that some of the Afghan demonstrators attacked the check post in Friendship Gate and set the Pakistani flag on fire. Numerous attempts have been made to resolve the issue and reopen the crossing but no breakthrough has been made so far. The NATO supplies and cross border trade activities were also suspended.”

It added: “Earlier tensions intensified between the two neighboring countries on several occasions during the past recent months, mainly due to the establishment of gates and other installations. The Afghan and Pakistani forces exchanged fire at Torkham earlier in June which resulted in to the closure of the gate for several days. Both the Afghan and Pakistani forces suffered casualties during the clashes that erupted due to the construction of a gate by Pakistan which the Afghan officials called a unilateral move and against a bilateral agreement between the two nations.”

India-Afghanistan trade relationship:

India’s bilateral trade with Afghanistan had rested at $684.47 million in 2014-15, an increase of 0.20 per cent over $683.10 million a year earlier, and 20.41 per cent higher than $568.44 million in 2010-11.

India’s exports to Afghanistan in 2014-15 had stood at $ 422.56 million, while its imports from that country were worth $261.91 million. Despite the lack of direct land access, India is the second-largest destination for Afghan exports.

Pakistan-Afghanistan trade relationship:

Towards the end of July 2016, the volume of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan was growing.

Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan had informed the Senate that the current volume of trade between the two countries had stood at $2.28 billion annually.

Vital facts about the bilateral India-Afghanistan ties:

India was the only South Asian country to recognise the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

India had aided the overthrow of the Taliban and became the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan.

Following the July 7, 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul, which had killed 58 people, the Afghan Foreign Ministry quoted India as a "brother country."

Pakistan had strongly refuted the newspaper report (of having any hand in the bombing) though.

While the “New York Times” had quoted some unnamed U.S. intelligence officials as saying that the Pakistani ISI had orchestrated the Indian Embassy attack, eminent British journalist Christina Lamb had “revealed” that the then US President George W. Bush had confronted the then Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and had stated that in the case of another such attack, he would have to take "serious action.”

(References: Christina Lamb’s August 2008 report appearing in the “The Times” of London)

It is not a hidden secret that during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, India had offered intelligence and other forms of support for the Coalition forces.

After the overthrow of the Taliban, India had established diplomatic relations with the newly established democratic government.

India has till date provided over US$650–750 million in humanitarian and economic aid, making it the largest regional provider of aid for Afghanistan.

(References: the New York Times, the Washington Post and the US Council on Foreign Relations)

India wishes to improve transport connectivity and economic collaboration with countries in Central and South Asia. India has already invested US$10.8 billion in Afghanistan as of 2012. More such projects are likely to come up after NATO’s withdrawal. This includes setting up Iron ore mines, a steel plant, an 800 MW power plant, Hydro-electric power projects, transmission lines, roads etc.

India had helped Afghans in the reconstruction of Salma Dam in the Herat province. Besides producing 42 MW power, this Indo-Afghan friendship dam provides irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland in the Chishti Sharif district. India and Iran are set to ink a transit agreement on transporting goods to landlocked Afghanistan.

While the Salma Dam, officially the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan, the above-mentioned hydroelectric plant produces 42 MW of power in addition to providing irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland---thus stabilizing the existing irrigation of 35,000 hectares and development of irrigation facilities to an additional 40,000 hectares of land.

The dam was opened on 4 June 2016 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Archival research shows that the Indian government is also investing more than US$100 million in the expansion of the Chabahar port in south-eastern Iran which will serve as a hub for the transportation of transit goods

As a goodwill gesture, India is also constructing a new Parliament complex for the Afghan government at a cost of US$115 million. This building was inaugurated on December 25, 2015.

(References: The Hindustan Times, the Economic Times, Outlook India and the Gazette of Central Asia)

Meanwhile, a January 4, 2016 report of the “Business Standard” had stated: “Over the past decade and a half, India and Afghanistan have seen their ties deepening — the process started with the Taliban government getting toppled in December 2001. India, according to an “International Business Times” report, had delivered three Russia-made Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan in December last year. Reports suggest it is to deliver an additional helicopter soon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on December 25, 2015 had together inaugurated the newly built Afghan Parliament building. India has constructed the new building at a cost of about $90 million, as a sign of friendship. India has so far given financial assistance worth over $2 billion to Afghanistan and has been involved in massive developmental efforts in the war-torn country.

A May 23, 2016 report of “Al-Jazeera” had viewed: “India, Iran and Afghanistan have signed a tripartite agreement to turn the Iranian port of Chabahar into a transit hub bypassing Pakistan, which has been the only route for war-stricken Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean. The accord, which calls for joint investments, will significantly boost the role of the under-tapped port of Chabahar. Once the project is realised, it will connect India to Afghanistan and central Asia, while Kabul will get an alternate route to the Indian Ocean. Modi and Rouhani oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the provision of a $500million line of credit. Afghan authorities appear to have lost interest in pushing forward any trade related agreements with Pakistan with the alternative route via Iran close to being finalised. On April 11, 2016, Iran, Afghanistan and India had finished negotiating the details of the pact meant to provide legal framework to operate trade corridors via Iran’s Chabahar port.”