NEW DELHI: India will send its next consignment of wheat as aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban regime via Chabahar Port. This was announced at the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Joint Working Group (JWG) on Afghanistan in New Delhi on March 7.
The move comes after the agreement with Pakistan to send wheat over land route expired and talks on the extension failed. The JWG meeting comes a year after the India-Central Asia summit in January 2022, where the decision to hold a special contact group on Afghanistan was announced.
The issues of drugs, export of terrorism and radicalism, and refugees have been the top concerns for neighbouring countries in Central Asia. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports, opium production is up by nearly a third in the past year, after the Taliban took control of Kabul. More than 80 per cent of the world’s opium and heroin is smuggled out of Afghanistan, which is a part of Golden crescent.
The JWG also emphasised the “importance of formation of a truly inclusive and representative political structure that extends equal rights for all Afghans including minorities, women and girls. The joint statement said that no terror organizations including UN designated terrorists should be provided sanctuary or allowed to use the territory of Afghanistan.
