India’s wheat shipment, part of its humanitarian assistance to crisis-hit Afghanistan, is likely to begin from the next week via Pakistan as the two sides have reportedly finalized all modalities after a delay of almost three months. Afghan trucks would start collecting Indian wheat shipment from the Wagah border from 21 February, Associated Press reported, citing two officials of Pakistan’s Foreign Office. Trucks will then proceed to Kabul via the Torkhan crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border. 

The two nations, however, are yet to make an official announcement on the starting of the shipment from next week. 

Since the Taliban’s takeover in August last year, Afghanistan has been facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with an acute shortage of food and other essentials. Aid agencies have warned millions of children are at risk of death due to malnutrition amid a shortage of food. 

In October last year, India met Taliban officials at a conference in Moscow and had offered to provide 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat shipment as part of its humanitarian assistance to Afghans. The shipment was to pass through Pakistan.  

However, Pakistani and Indian officials negotiated for months to finalize details of modalities regarding shipments of wheat.  

Due to its bitter ties with India, Islamabad doesn’t give transit permits to Indian trucks to access the Afghan market. However, considering the humanitarian crisis and requests from senior Taliban officials, Islamabad had last year announced that it will allow transit of Indian wheat shipment to Kabul on an "exceptional basis."

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan remains isolated globally as no country has yet recognized the interim government of the hardline Islamist group. Sanctions, on the other hand, have crippled the country’s economy badly, with businesses facing a severe shortage of cash. 

Last week, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to unfreeze the $7 billion Afghan national reserves, splitting it into half, with $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance and the remaining to pay compensations to the victims of the 9/11 attack in the US.

(SAM)