India has exerted subtle pressure on Pakistan for an early decision on land transit for its humanitarian consignment of wheat to Afghanistan.
Though New Delhi has sent three plane loads of life-saving medicines and vaccines to Kabul, its consignment of 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan has been blocked at the Pakistan border for over two months.
There is no official confirmation that the issue of transporting the wheat via Iran’s Chabahar port was discussed. Jaishankar only posted about a “wide-ranging conversation with my Iranian colleague” during which they “discussed the difficulties of Covid, challenges in Afghanistan, prospects of Chabahar and complexities of the Iranian nuclear issue.”
In case the issue was taken up, it marks an expensive change of strategy. The government would be faced with the prospect of diverting the wheat to the ports and would have to arrange for containers at a time when their availability is tight and freight rates are high.