Afghan President Hamid Karzai. PHOTO: REUTERS
“Trade has to happen if it wants to establish prosperity in the region and keep it free of conflict. I hope Pakistan will soon give the transit route to India,” the news agency quoted the Afghan president as saying.
“Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Pakistan and India, and trade between the three countries is an essential element for the progress and stability of the countries,” Karzai said in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, following the inauguration of the Afghan National Agricultural Sciences and Technology University (ANASTU) – which was built with India’s help.
Commenting on the issue of a transit route with Afghanistan, India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “Pakistan has to open for the sake of Afghanistan. By this Afghanistan gets direct access to India via Pakistan. It will be of enormous help to Afghanistan.”
Khurshid said India will continue to push for Chabahar Port in Iran as an alternative route to mineral-rich Afghanistan.
India is interested in the Iranian port as a means of direct access to Central Asia and to facilitate the import of minerals from Afghanistan.
Khurshid also said that India has to resolve issues with Pakistan such as the grant of the Most Favoured Nation status. “They have promised MFN status to India, which has not been given yet,” he said. Pakistan has delayed the grant of MNF status to India along with an abolition of a negative trade list regime ‘for a short time’ following reservations expressed by several industries, Pakistani officials said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2014.
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@ahmed that is utter nonsense, If country like India would decide to do so, blv me u had no chance. If India would act same as you mentioned than you would see a new nation in world map "Baluchistan" but we are democracy and Government have to responsible for every act, & please stop hating.
It's not going to happen. The amount of distrust that the three countries have (in pairs) is just too much.
The only thing that baffles me is the Muslim factor! How convenient it is sometimes to use it, and then sometimes, just to ignore it!
@Abdul: Wishful thinking.....
@ahmed: You have not only great rage and hate against India (most of it incoherent and emotional) but your opinions are based on wrong information and are factually incorrect. There will be no prosperity in South Asia (as a whole) if countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India cannot trade with one other. The blame lies with all parties. So stop the hate and the anger and ask how these countries can be made to cooperate with one another so that all its people may prosper. Without that they are stuck forever playing the same tune.
Pakistan should forget about giving MF status to India r transit route to India munitions because India is not iterested in properity of Pakistan or India, not the government or the people. We should encourage separatists in India like India is training terrorists in Afghanistan to come and kill our civilians and militray including slaughtering 23 FC men in captivity. We should dump all the afghan refugees at Wagah so they can do their brotherly activities in India for next 25 years as we have suffered enough.
Pakistan response should be simple n to the point: 1. Afghanistan must close all/any Indian Consulates (accept one in Kabul); 2. Close/Expel all/any Indian secret service acts against Pakistan from it's soil; 3. Indian drive must stop at the border n after proper check, Pakistani drivers bring Indian trucks at Afghanistan border n hand over to Afghan drivers; 4. NO Afghan driver allowed to enter in Pakistani borders; 5. Afghanistan must immediately takes it's refugees back from Pakistan territory; 6. Based on international transit practice must be cost of passage; 6. He'll with brotherhood Afghanistan must pay all dues for goods passing via. All free bees must come to end.
@Raj - USA:
Do you regard Opium export as a perishable commodity?. There are reports that In 2013 Afghanistan opium production has exceeded that of the world demand.and this occurred on the watch of occupying military.
Rex Minor
If one like Karzai or not ..thats something different but at the end of the day its the trade that connects people and bring prosperity to the people.
There goes the claim of Pakistan's love for Muslim umma. Can't Pakistani government do that much for their Afghan brothers to allow them to send and receive good from India?
I thought that over two years ago, Pakistan had agreed to allow land route to Afghanistan for its exports of perishable commodities like fruits to India. Looks like it is not applied in practice even today. As far as India's exports to Afghanistan are concerned, it would be cheaper and safer for India to use Chabahar port. India should also forget for few years about the MFN status from Pakistan.
Mr. Karzai, if you had wished for Pakistan to be dumped and sunk in the Arabian sea so that entire India can shift west to join borders with you, even that would have been possible as far as Nawaz Sharif holds the PM chair.
NO