Afghanistan urges India to lead diplomatic recognition amid strengthening ties

It’s been three years since the Taliban formed the government in Afghanistan. Notwithstanding the fact that many countries including India have continued to have their diplomatic missions running in Kabul, no country has as yet recognised their government officially. Afghanistan hopes India would take the lead on this.

“India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishankar spoke with our officiating Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi recently, which was a good step,” Haji Nooruddin Azizi, Afghanistan’s officiating minister for commerce & industry, told Business India, in an exclusive interview. “We would want India to take the lead and recognise our government”.

India’s diplomatic mission has been functional in Kabul and has also commenced visa services recently. Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in India too are operational. “India has been engaged with us since the past two-three years and they understand our narrative as they know who we are,” Azizi added. “We have had historic and cultural ties with India and we would like to enhance that and further improve our diplomatic ties”.

Afghanistan says that its services can be used to transport goods from Central Asia and Russia to India. The border at Wagah is a shorter route – which has been closed since the outbreak of the conflict between India and Pakistan, following the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam.

“We oppose any kind of terror and are against any kind of killing,” he proclaimed. “We would like to spread the message of peace, love and prosperity, as we have been victims of terrorism for the longest time”.

Afghanistan is willing to use Chabahar port in Iran to transport goods to India. However, since the Wagah border is closer, transporting through it is more viable economically. “There is need for some infrastructure improvement on our front and we can easily be a bridge to transport goods from Russia and Central Asia to India,” Azizi informed. “We have had historic ties with India. Another big factor for us to look up to India is the
Deoband Madrassa, as that’s the school of thought that all Afghani leaders follow”.

Afghanistan doesn’t want to comment on the conflict between India and Pakistan. Azizi says that, though his country has friendly ties with both, it is up to the nations to bilaterally resolve their disputes.

“We have dealt with conflict for over 50 years and realise how it hampers the economy,” Azizi says. “India and Pakistan have a lot of similarities, especially in the states of Punjab and Kashmir. They both should co-operate and resolve their issues, but Afghanistan would like to stay out of it”.

India has always supported Afghanistan by sending consignments of essential goods, which included wheat and medicines. The conflict between India and Pakistan led to the Afghan traders incurring losses as their consignments were held up at Karachi port. Traders suffered losses as most of their exports are perishable, like fruits and vegetables.

After the de-escalation of the military stand-off between India and Pakistan, the government of India approved of the entry of 162 trucks from Aghanistan, which contained fresh and dry fruits. These trucks came from Kandahar.

Need incentives

“Private traders are involved in trade from Afghanistan and their interests would be served, if there was easy access,” Azizi informs. “We would like to promote trade from Chabahar port. However, we would like the Indian/Iranian governments to incentivise us through subsidies and also have policies that support Afghan products. Whenever I travel to Central Asia or Russia, I always talk about India and its relations with us”.

India has always extended humanitarian support to Afghanistan during its hours of need. It has sent food items and other essentials in the past too. In April this year, India sent a shipment of 4.8 tonnes of medicines to Afghanistan, which included rabies, tetanus, Hepatitis B and influenza vaccines.

It may be recalled that, in the latest budget, India has announced that it would double its financial aid to Afghanistan. It includes an allotment of Rs100 crore as grants for the ongoing financial year from India.