Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale highlights Afghanistan, Iran links

India has “sought to bypass an unwilling regime in Islamabad by establishing in June 2017 an air freight corridor between India and Afghanistan”, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Thursday while speaking at a regional connectivity conference in the Capital. “India’s connectivity with the west continues, though it remains blighted,” Gokhale said.

“We are also seeking to develop the Chabahar Port as a gateway for onward connectivity to and from Afghanistan and Central Asia... We have shipped about 110 thousand metric tonnes of wheat and 2000 metric tonnes of pulses from India to Afghanistan through this port. We might also need to pursue the development of a rail line from Chabahar to Zahedan,” he said in presence of the US envoy to India, Ken Juster who later said the two governments are discussing the US waiver for India’s Chabahar Port.