India’s ‘Food-For-Drought’ Largesse To Afghanistan Could Find Favour With US, And May Save Iran’s Chabahar Port Deal

United States has said that it will consider the impact of sanctions on Iran on the Chabahar port project of India in view of the aid India is providing to war-torn Afghanistan, IANS has reported.

Chabahar port is situated in Iran and serves as a surface link between New Delhi and Kabul and subsequently, to central Asia.

"When it comes to Chabahar, we are in the process of reviewing the imposition of sanctions," Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asia, told IANS .

"So that process (of review) is under way and we take India's concerns and interest in being able to expand exports to Afghanistan and to increase Afghanistan exports to India, very seriously. As we look at the reinforcement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the sanctions, we will, I think carefully, evaluate the impact that it could have, for instance on Afghanistan," Wells added.

US, under President Donald Trump, has pulled out of the nuclear deal Iran signed with US along with four other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, European Union and Germany, which was meant to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons in lieu of lifting sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

US has reimposed sanctions on Iran and has warned countries to not trade with it. "Certainly, the wheat exports that India has sent to Afghanistan have been critical, particularly at a time when drought is having such an impact and will certainly impact the supplies that will be available to the Afghan population this year," Wells said.

New Delhi is making an investment of $500 million in developing the Chabahar port and a road link to Afghanistan via which, last year, it has sent 1.1 million tonnes of wheat as aid to the friendly country.

US has put India as the centre of its Indo-Pacific strategy and relations between both countries are on an upward trajectory.

"In any mature partnership, there are sometimes going to be differences over tactics, and we are able to have very constructive conversations on our approaches to the region and to the neighbourhood," Wells said.