Decision on Indian wheat to Afghanistan expected soon

The decision will be announced once the modalities have been worked out, official sources

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan will soon communicate its decision to India on allowing a humanitarian shipment of wheat to pass through to Afghanistan via the Wagah border as concerned authorities finalize modalities.

“The decision will be announced soon,” a senior government official told The Express Tribune while requesting anonymity. He dismissed the perception created by India that Pakistan might not allow the transportation of wheat to Afghanistan via Wagah.

Last month India announced 50,000 metric tons of wheat for Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance and requested Pakistan to ship the food grain via the Wagah border. Currently, Pakistan only allows Afghanistan to export goods to India but doesn’t allow any other two-way trade through the border crossing.

Prime Minister Imran Khan told Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi last week that the government would “favorably consider” the request by Afghan brothers for transportation of wheat offered by India through Pakistan for humanitarian purposes after working out its modalities.

The Afghan foreign minister had requested the Prime Minister to allow India to transport wheat via Pakistan, suggesting that the Taliban government was willing to accept the humanitarian assistance from India.

The official made it clear that contrary to perception created by the Indian media, Pakistan never said it would not allow the transportation of wheat via its land. The official explained there were many issues to look into such as the view of the Afghan interim government and logistics.

“We have almost finalized the modalities and soon India would be communicated about our decision,” the official added.

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New Delhi, otherwise, does not maintain any official or formal contact with the Taliban government. However, India is thought to be in contact with the Taliban before the group took over Kabul on August 15. Qatar is believed to have arranged at least one meeting between the Indian representatives and the Taliban leaders in Doha.

The Taliban government said it wanted to maintain good ties with all countries including India. Taliban soldiers even provided security to the Indian convoy when it departed from Kabul during the chaotic exit of US forces from Afghanistan.

Indian media on Wednesday reported that Indian officials during a meeting with US special representative for Afghanistan Thomas West sought “unhindered access” to Afghanistan for the shipment of 50,000 tons of wheat being sent as humanitarian assistance.

Official sources here said the access would be unhindered once the modalities were worked out. One source said that India was probably itself not ready to transport the wheat and only gave an impression that Pakistan was the hurdle.

The source said when the Prime Minister publicly stated that Pakistan would “favorably consider” the request that meant in principle the government had already decided to allow India to transport wheat via Pakistan.

If both sides eventually agree on the modalities and India does transport the wheat via Pakistan, this would be seen as a significant development given the current state of relationship between the two countries and how both differ on Afghanistan.