With Afghanistan in food crisis, India plans to send 50,000MT of wheat and medical aid to the Taliban-ruled country.
Indian government needs to circumvent what it has described as the challenge of efficient logistics to be able to despatch any food aid to Afghanistan though.
India wants unhindered and direct access for those handling humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and believes only the UN is equipped to monitor this situation.
Thus, Indian aid will depend on whether or not this “enabling environment” is created.India had last year delivered 75,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan but that was through the long and circuitous Chabahar port route.
One of the options being considered is to transport wheat to Afghanistan by road via the Attari-Wagah border with but that will be a complicated exercise given that Pakistan doesn’t allow 2-way trade for India and Afghanistan through that border.
It only allows Afghanistan to export goods to India.
India though is learnt to be in touch with Pakistan on this issue. For any such proposal to materialise, United Nations will have an important role to play in the logistics.
In his G20 address last week, PM Narendra Modi had also called for unhindered and urgent humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people.
Humanitarian assistance, including food aid, will be a major focus area for the international conference India has proposed to organise next month in Delhi and for which it has invited , China and Pakistan, among others.
India remains a major source of wheat ont only for Afghanistan.
(Sourced by The Times of India)
