Pak may allow Indian food aid to Afghanistan

Story by Aasha Khosa | Posted by Aasha Khosa | Date 13-11-2021

Prime Minister Imran Khan meeting Afghan delegation (Courtesy: Dawn)

New Delhi

Pakistan may allow the Indian food aid for Afghanistan through its territory. Delhi has been waiting for a signal from the Imran Khan government to ready the consignment to which it's already committed to.

This was hinted upon by Khan while speaking to a delegation led by Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to Islamabad.

According to a report in Dawn newspaper, Khan told the Afghans that “Pakistan would favourably consider the request by the Taliban government in Afghanistan for transporting wheat offered by India through the country on an exceptional basis for humanitarian reasons.”

The Afghan delegation was in Islamabad for three days to hold discussion on opening orf border and trade with the country. Pakistan has committed five billion dollars to Afghanistan as aid.

India has offered 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and, medicines as an aid to Afghanistan that is facing a severe food crisis with people selling their children, especially daughters, to keep their bodies and souls together.

However, Pakistan had so far denied passage to the Indian trucks for carrying this consignment through to Pakistan due to its inherent hostility to India enjoying good relations with the Afghan people.

Many Pakistani opinion-makers had opposed this move of giving passage to Indian humanitarian supplies saying India could use Chabahar port instead. However, the route via Pakistan is the shortest and there is no reason for Pakistan not to allow humanitarian aid for a country that it keeps asking the world to help.

It’s likely that the Delhi Declaration of National security advisors of Russia, India, Iran, and five central Asian countries that called for unhindered humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan, has had its impact on the otherwise recalcitrant Khan government.

India is working out with the UN agencies for fair distribution of the proposed wheat and medicines.

In the past, Pakistan had banned Indian trucks carrying biscuits for Afghan children on its territory. For so many years India has been using the Chabahar port of Iran for transporting it to Afghanistan.