Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani has lamented India’s slow development of Chabahar Port in the Iranian Sistan and Baluchistan region that borders his country, TOLO News reported on September 12.
In early 2016, India signed an agreement with Iran under which it would invest $500mn in giving the port - Iran’s only oceanic port which from its location on the Gulf of Oman offers unhindered sea lanes to the Indian Ocean - a major upgrade that would include the construction of two terminals and five berths. The Indians, who want to access Afghanistan via Iranian trade routes because their thorny relationship with Islamabad precludes the use of Pakistani trade corridors that run out of Pakistan’s Gwadar port, also secured the right to lease and operate the infrastructure for 10 years.
However, progress in realising the project has been painfully slow, with analysts speculating on a number of reasons behind that reality, including pressure from Washington, which is still looking to isolate Iran despite the 2015 nuclear deal which lifted multilateral sanctions.
Rabbani urged India to hurry up with its development of the port partly because Afghanistan is eager to use the Chabahar route to send its goods to India.
He added that Afghanistan and India had reaffirmed their resolve in strengthening security and defence cooperation, but did not provide any more details.
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