On November 11, as US President Donald Trump was visiting Hanoi, Vietnam, trucks started arriving in Zaranj on the border between Iran and Afghanistan. On board the vehicles were the first shipments of wheat from India – 15,000 tons, with 7 more to follow – heading into Nimruz Province, Afghanistan from the Iranian port of Chabahar.
These shipments, which departed India from the port of Kandla in Gujarat Province, will continue over the coming months and will follow a route designed over a decade ago to bypass and replace the existing land route that once linked India to Afghanistan via Pakistan, but which Pakistan cut off years ago to Indian commerce.
They fall under a trilateral agreement inked in May 2016 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
In Trump-like fashion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “I congratulate Afghanistan and Iran on Indian wheat shipment being flagged off from Kandla to Afghanistan through Chabahar” as the trucks rolled into Afghanistan. Many critics had doubted that any shipments would ever make the journey.
India’s ambassador to Kabul, Manpreet Vohra told a crowd gathered to greet the arriving trucks at Zaranj that 110,000 tons of wheat will be shipped to Afghanistan through Chabahar in the coming months, representing a portion of the 1.1 million tons promised as a “gift” by India to Afghanistan.
Vohra was critical of Pakistan’s restriction of Indian access to Afghanistan. He promised the latter that India would now ensure it could export and import goods routinely and quickly via Iran.
“We all know that a particular neighbor of yours to the east has often placed restrictions on your transit rights,” Vohra stated. “This [new route] will provide you guaranteed access to the sea.”
Nimruz Provincial Governor Mohammad Samiullah went further, telling the same crowd that Afghanistan would no longer be dependent on Karachi, where Afghan merchants have been subjected to frequent border crossing closures and other impediments to trade.
Richard Rossow, a senior fellow who holds the Wadhwani Chair in US- India Policy Studies at the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Asia Times via email that “Chabahar is very important to India. The country is committed to Afghanistan’s stability and reconstruction. Having direct, relatively inexpensive access is critical.”
He added: “Today, most access is indirect, or expensive – such as the new air route for supply delivery. Flagging off the first wheat shipment to Afghanistan via Chabahar is a major step.”
Despite President Trump’s efforts to isolate Iran and accuse it of failing to comply with the terms of the nuclear deal signed by the last US administration, there have been unusual signs of support from important American players in Afghanistan.
US Army General John Nicholson, commander of US combat operations in the country, spoke positively about the project during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in February. He described it as offering Afghanistan a viable and economic alternative to shipping all its goods via Pakistan.
“The US is asking India to consider increasing its support to Afghanistan, and I imagine India would use that opportunity to make the case that Iran provides a vital link to Afghanistan”
“With over US$2 billion development aid executed since 2002, and another US$1 billion pledged in 2016, India’s significant investments in Afghan infrastructure, engineering, training, and humanitarian issues will help develop Afghan human capital and long-term stability,” he said.
Rossow points out that during his October trip to India, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked by the Indian media specifically about the US position on Chabahar. “He clearly stated that India’s commercial interest in Iran, where it does not directly support Iran’s ‘malign behaviors,’ would not be a topic of concern to the US,” said Rossow.
“The US is asking India to consider increasing its support to Afghanistan, and I imagine India would use that opportunity to make the case that Iran provides a vital link to Afghanistan. In that context, the US may be more willing to tacitly support developments at Chabahar, as it helps India meet the request by the Trump Administration.”
India remains keenly aware of the security issues surrounding the opening of this new truck route, which has cost the lives of over 100 construction workers and other personnel over the past decade. What response might be forthcoming from the Taliban, ISIS and other groups opposed to an expanding Indian presence in Afghanistan is uncertain.
Morever, in light of Trump’s somewhat unexpected shift from an “Asia Pacific” to an “Indo-Pacific” definition of the region, it is unclear how or even if this new perspective dovetails with India’s embrace of Iran as it attempts greater access to Afghanistan.
“The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ as expanding on ‘Asia-Pacific’ highlights South Asia’s emerging role in issues that cover all of Asia,” said Rossow.
“Right or wrong, Asia-Pacific has tended to mean, in practice, littoral Pacific states. In a very real sense, this would mean the region covered by US Pacific Command. I am not certain we consider Iran or the African coast, for instance, in our planning for the ‘Indo-Pacific.’ So even ‘Indo-Pacific’ may not mean every nation which touches the Indian Ocean directly in terms of emerging practical cooperation and planning.”
India used the opening of the route to underscore its commitment to Afghanistan in terms of a much broader agenda involving joint reconstruction projects and other programs.
Regardless of how definitions of ‘Indo-Pacific’ sort out, it is clear that much more than shipments of wheat will result from this significant new connection.
The IndoPacific quad will now have Chabadar as their Indian New Silk route’s access point fnto Central Asia like Afghanistan especially at this time when the trumpeter regime is increasingly belligent towards his long-term ally Pakistan.
Chabahar also gives Iran the ability to export oil, from outside the Persian Gulf?
Remember Afghanistan also objected OBOR of China
. Chinese investments are profit making and ruining others economy , also when they are unable to pay back they capture the land instead , unlike India who has sence of humanitarian assistance to its good neighbours and the world.
What’s the cost per ton can anyone guess, plus it’s just a matter of time before Taliban cut the supply line.
Chabahar and the way it is helping to defrost US attitudes to Iran is an excellent example of the infinite beneficial possibilities of the new Indo-US alliance. The US is learning from India, which she can trust, to become less dogmatic about Iran.
Many analysts forget the importance of DEMOCRACY as an immense binding force between India and the USA. The US has repeatedly said India can have a privileged alliance with America because the two nations are the world’s greatest two democracies. China and Russia are livid with jealousy when they hear that. Democracy provides an incredible resource for India in diplomacy with the USA. Even when India was allied to the Soviet Union the USA felt compelled to transfer large amounts of aid to it because it was a poor democracy ! Like Israel, once India is an American ally the US media and the political class will never let Washington abandon essential Indian interests – simply because this is a democracy that we are talking about with a good established repu-tation. So all the pessimism about the US commitment to India is misplaced.
like the blockade of NEPAL.
Charles Chiu Hsien Liao …and annexation of Sikkim!
Kh Johnson heart broken, Sri Lanka kick you out.
Kh Johnson yes, projection of indian action. Do you ever wonder why all your neighbors stay away from you as far as they can?
Kh Johnson : it is halal pork. Tenderloin is the best meat!
Why do I get the feeling that many here are not economic or business minded but dealers in political intrigue or ideology of geopolitical conflict. What has the quad or OBOR or any other blocs have anything to do with maximising trade and development and economic advancement? The whole idea is that trade requires logistics which then necessitates the appropriate infrastructure and amenities whether it be seaports, airports, railways, highways, pipe lines, electricity grids, internet etc. Whatever country, whatever its religious or ideological alignment or disposition, for the economic welfare and advancement of the nation and the people, it needs to build up whatever infrastructure or trade facility that is required to move goods and services and people. Well done Iran! Build more infrastructure. In future most goods would be AI, so build up your internet and the iCloud and other IT blockchain infrastructure. Show the world what the Persians can do. After all the Persians invented the Power of Zero. Without 1 and 0, there would be no mathematics as we know it, no binary IT!
Jo Snow , Chinese chase thier neighbours claiming that all their neighbours as their land by bringing some ancient terracotta figuring. And relating to jing,ping,king Kong dynasty
Jo Snow , yes because India invented n taught Chinese zero
Paying the Indian for access through Chahabar now makes more sense than paying the Pakistani for access through Gwadar for the Trumpist Quad.