Pakistan a roadblock, Afghanistan plans an air and sea bypass for trade with India

What do two friendly countries do when they have a wedge in the middle? They bypass it. That is exactly what India and Afghanistan plan to do with the roadblock called Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi will expand bilateral sea trade by making more extensive use of Iran’s Chabahar port. The two countries are also gearing up to improve bilateral trade by setting up two dedicated cargo flight routes, officials from India and Afghanistan said on Friday.

With the Acting Minister of Industry and Trade of Afghanistan Nooruddin Azizi during a five-day visit to IndiaOfficials announced the launch of cargo flight routes to Kabul from Delhi and Amritsar. The move, confirmed by India’s Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Anand Prakash, comes along with a decision to post special trade attachés in both Delhi and Kabul.

Bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan is currently estimated at over $1 billion, and both countries, once contiguous neighbors, plan to expand it.

India and Pakistan do legally adjacent neighborsbut they no longer share a land border for trade or transit due to Pakistan’s illegal occupation of Gilgit-Baltistan. That makes direct land access between New Delhi and Kabul virtually impossible. As a result, the alternatives now lie in air routes or multi-modal corridors that completely bypass Pakistan via Iran’s Chabahar port.

The joint announcement by Indian and Afghan officials comes a day after Azizi met Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.

Responding to India Today Digital’s question on whether improved Pakistan-Afghanistan relations could affect Kabul’s ties with New Delhi in the future, Azizi said, “We have never wanted violence. Afghanistan has seen enough bloodshed. Business and politics should not be mixed. Our focus is on creating a conducive business environment for the upliftment of the country.”

TALIBAN-LED GOVT INVITES INDIAN COMPANIES TO INVEST IN AFGHANISTAN

Azizi, who led a large business delegation, used the visit to push for greater dependence on Iran’s Chabahar port, where India has invested heavily as a gateway for Afghan goods.

He specifically asked for scheduled services from the port, the construction of dry ports in Afghanistan’s Nimruz province, near the Iranian border, and smoother handling of Afghan cargo at India’s Nhava Sheva port in Maharashtra.

Azizi also extended an open invitation to Indian companies to participate in sectors such as mining, agriculture, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, IT, energy and textiles. He announced several new incentives, including a 1% tariff on raw materials and machinery, free land allocations, a reliable power supply, and proposed five-year tax exemptions for new industries – especially those established by returning Afghan refugees.

AZIZI SEEKS MORE INVOLVEMENT FROM AFGHAN SIKHS, HINDUS

Nooruddin Azizi also encouraged greater involvement of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities and reaffirmed Afghanistan’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful, inclusive and business-friendly environment for all partners.

Indian authorities have also promised swift action on this, including relaxed business visa processing and strengthened banking channels despite ongoing sanctions hurdles.

Cargo flights on the Kabul-Delhi and Kabul-Amritsar sectors are expected to commence soon, allowing faster movement of perishable Afghan exports such as fresh fruits and medicinal herbs. These raw materials suffer from delays in land transport.

Areas flagged for cooperation include the pharmaceutical sector, cold chain infrastructure, food processing plants and mineral extraction enterprises.

The background to these agreements is Kabul’s deteriorating transit relationship with Pakistan.

Last month, amid the cross-border attacks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, dozens of Afghan trucks carrying rotting produce were stranded when the border was closed on October 12.

According to the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), losses on both sides exceeded $100 million and up to 25,000 cross-border workers were affected.

Following this, Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Baradar warned traders that Kabul would not intervene if they continued to rely on Pakistan.

THE TALIBAN REGIME HAS ASKED AFGHANS TO SKIP TRADE

Recent directives from Afghan leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, have done just that encouraged traders to halt their activities via Pakistani routes within months, citing repeated closures and alleged political exploitation by Islamabad. Losses for Afghan exporters have risen to tens of millions of dollars in the past year.

In response, freight traffic through Chabahar and Central Asia has increased dramatically. The Iranian port, part of the broader international North-South transport corridor championed by New Delhi, now serves as Afghanistan’s landlocked main seaport in Iran.

However, trade through this route and limited air links amounted to around US$900 million in the last fiscal year, leaving even a small surplus in Kabul’s favor for the first time.

But as New Delhi has thawed ties with Kabul, expanding humanitarian aid — more than a million tons of wheat since 2021 — while resuming direct flights to Kabul, India has maintained its engagement even as it has been in contact with the Taliban government.

This strategy is also important in India to secure alternative access to Central Asian countries for energy and minerals trade.

Azizi’s visit, which included sessions with private sector groups at the India International Trade Fair, also examined India’s investments in light manufacturing and mining.

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