India is taking advantage of tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan by seeking to divert Afghan commerce from Pakistani routes to an Iranian port run by an Indian company in a move seen by analysts as a bid to boost its security and trade links with Kabul.
A high-level delegation from India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), led by Joint Secretary J.P. Singh, visited Kabul on November 4 and 5. The delegation met with Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and heads of UN agencies in Kabul. Among their discussion topics was Iran’s Chabahar port, operated by India Ports Global Limited.
“They had discussions on India’s humanitarian assistance, how the Chabahar port can be utilised by the business community in Afghanistan for transactions, export and import, and any other things that they would like to do,” MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said at a press briefing last week.
In a social media post, the Taliban’s defence ministry confirmed that Yaqoob met with the Indian delegation to discuss avenues for expanding their relations. Muttaqi’s office has also released details of his talks with Singh, noting that the Taliban’s chief diplomat urged stronger bilateral political and economic ties and requested easier visas for Afghan businessmen to travel to India.
Kabir Taneja, an associate fellow with the Observer Research Foundation Strategic Studies Programme in New Delhi, said India has been trying to promote Chabahar port as an alternative trade route for Afghanistan for a while now.
“[Chabahar is] part of the core design of the project. It is to also give Kabul an alternative to Karachi port, which Afghanistan has used as a primary port for a long time,” Taneja said.
