Another missed opportunity for Pakistan
India and Afghanistan have finally developed a new trade route bypassing Pakistan. This was necessitated by Islamabad’s refusal to allow two way trade between the two countries through its territory. India on Sunday shipped its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan by the new transit route. Indian goods for Kabul will henceforth be transported by sea to Iran’s Chabahar port. From there the cargo will be transferred to trucks and taken to Afghanistan via Zahidan. An air freight corridor between India and Afghanistan was also operationalized earlier this year to give a fillip to bilateral trade relations. The opening of the new sea-cum-land route constitutes a major leap in New Delhi’s outreach to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Pakistan’s opposition to opening its roads to Afghan-India trade made little economic sense in a world where walls are being replaced with bridges for free flow of goods between nations. In fact all the three countries would have benefitted by the removal of trade barriers. With containers laden with goods moving freely between South Asia and Central Asia through Pakistan, this would have been economically a win-win situation for Islamabad. Increased trade between India and Pakistan would have cut production costs, brought down prices and created new jobs. The trade artery would have generated a level of interdependence motivating India and Pakistan to look for solutions to outstanding disputes including the core issue of Kashmir. This would have also improved Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan. The landlocked Afghanistan will be henceforth no more dependent on Pakistan for trade with the rest of the world.
Among other things that drove Islamabad to deny India access to Afghanistan was New Delhi’s unwillingness to enter into talks. Doubts have been expressed over Chabahar port’s economic feasibility. Modi has been questioned over his claim that transport of Indian goods to Europe via road would be cheaper than through cargo ships. Kabul has apparently already warned India that the Taliban could attack trucks carrying Indian exports. India could have avoided the several hazards of the new route by joining CPEC which would have connected it to Afghanistan and Central Asia through Pakistan.
We are ready to allow India to trade with Afghanistan via Pakistan but for that India must end its relations with Anti Pakistan terrorist groups. Anyway, if Afghanistan is ok with expensive wheat being important via Chabahar then we have no problem.
India will find a way out. Pakistan cannot hamper the progress for long. Afghanistan must survive as a nation.
“Chabahar is a better route and in future, it will take the place of Karachi port. But work still needs to be done there. An international airport is needed, infrastructure should be established and we need to build a railway line from there to Afghanistan,” ACCI spokesman Seyam Pesarlay said.
Reaching Karachi port, trucks travel either through Nimroz province – Zaranj city – which is an 872 km journey and takes at least 10 hours by road.
From Nangarhar’s Torkham gate, the distance is over 1,416km and takes trucks 28 hours at least to reach the port.
Chabahar Could Replace Karachi As Country’s Key Port —-TOLO News
“The Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) on Monday said Chabahar port, in south eastern Iran, could become Afghanistan’s primary sea port as it is only 550km from Afghanistan – opposed to Pakistan’s Karachi port which is over 800km from the country’s closest border.”
Chabahar Could Replace Karachi As Country’s Key Port —-TOLO News
It’s a no win situation here, The new route, sea, truck, load and reload on afghan border will never be economically feasible and Pakistani land route with access to India will never be granted. It’s not good for Iran and India now the afghans can push their drugs and guns into these two countries.
Where was Bin Laden found?? Where was the terrorist attackers of Mumbai linked to?? Open your eyes, there are extremists in Pakistan, which are also encouraging your youth to join it.
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