Consultation on increasing India-Afghanistan trade through Chabahar

India's special representative for Afghanistan, JP Singh, in a meeting with the Afghan foreign minister in Kabul, expressed hope for the development of political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India, especially through the Chabahar port.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman of Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a message on X that "in this visit, the development of political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India, especially through the Chabahar port, was hoped to increase business."

The Taliban government, while thanking India's Special Representative on Humanitarian Aid, said it wants to develop political and economic ties with India as an important country in the region based on its balanced foreign policy.

He also asked the Indian representative to facilitate educational, business and medical visas for Afghans.

India's Special Representative also met Taliban Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi.

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In late 2022, the Taliban government reopened the air corridor to boost trade with India, which was established in 2019 by the government of former President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

During the last years of the former government of Afghanistan, the annual trade between Afghanistan and India was said to have reached about one and a half billion dollars, but according to last year's data, it has reduced to only 24 million dollars.

When the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, like other countries, Indian diplomats also left Afghanistan, but a year later in August 2022, a group of these diplomats opened an Indian embassy in Kabul without an ambassador.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in recent months, Afghan businessmen have said that they have turned to Iran's Chabahar port instead of Karachi port in Pakistan to ship their goods.

The Chabahar port in south-east of Iran has been 'exempted' from US sanctions on Iran for Afghanistan's growth and development.