Around 50 Afghan trucks laden with wheat will be taken to Afghanistan overland through Pakistan as India begins sending the long-awaited first consignment of about 2,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Kabul Tuesday as part of its pledged humanitarian assistance last year. 

The shipment, which came almost four months after New Delhi’s initial proposal, is the first tranche of 50,000 tonnes of wheat since the Taliban seized power in Kabul. This came after India and the World Food Programme (WFP) signed a pact earlier this month to supply foodgrain to Afghanistan which is reeling under what has now become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. 

Despite the desperate situation back in Afghanistan, Pakistan took weeks before agreeing to permit India’s wheat shipment to pass through its territory. However, the two countries took over four months in finalizing the logistics. 

Over 1200 trucks will be required to ship the entire 50000 metric tonnes of wheat, reported The Indian Express, citing senior Indian officials. According to arrangements, Indian trucks would require the wheat to be unloaded, and loaded again into Afghan trucks, at the Zero Point on the Wagah-Attari border.

Pakistan last year granted a transit permit for the wheat shipment from India after the Taliban’s interim Foreign Minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi requested Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to allow Indian assistance to pass through its territory. 

India had continued sending other assistance like essential medicines, surgical equipment, and warm clothes as part of its assistance to the Afghan people. So far, over five shipments were delivered since the Taliban took over Kabul in August last year. New Delhi hasn’t yet recognized the Taliban government in Kabul. 

(SAM)