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Business News/ Politics / News/  India to explore link to Kabul during Iran talks
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India to explore link to Kabul during Iran talks

India to explore link to Kabul during Iran talks

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Iran—the first such tour to that country by an Indian prime minister in more than a decade—for the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) next week will see both sides looking at ways to re-energize plans for increasing connectivity to landlocked Afghanistan.

India and Iran had agreed to look at developing the port in southeastern Iran in 2003, during a visit to India by the then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, but the venture has not made much progress. Chabahar has been designated as a free trade and industrial zone by Tehran. Given India’s often hostile relations with Pakistan, India views the port as an alternative route not only to Afghanistan but also to the resource-rich landlocked countries of Central Asia.

Mathai said Sunday’s meeting will focus on “developing the use of Chabahar and the related infrastructure as an alternative route into Afghanistan which we certainly regard as being of great significance".

“There are a number of options that are on the table… They (the Iranians) have a two-phased plan for developing that infrastructure. There are options of participating in these. Separately, they (Iranians) have an idea of developing an industrial zone, they are inviting investments in that zone. Beyond that, there is a road infrastructure which already links Chabahar with the border with Afghanistan. The Iranians also have plans for developing the rail lines which will go from Chabahar to the Afghan border (and) also to the Turkmen(istan) border. All these raise a number of interesting possibilities… Afghanistan also finds it of interest being an alternative route into their country from which they can get vital supplies," Mathai said.

India-Iran cooperation on Afghanistan is not new. India, Iran and Russia were the main backers of the opposition Northern Alliance that fought against the Taliban control of Kabul between 1996 and 2001. With the Taliban making a comeback after being ousted in 2001, and the US-led international troops withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014, India is keen to strengthen its ties with Afghanistan and Iran. Besides committing $2 billion for reconstruction, India has signed a strategic deal with Afghanistan under which it will train Afghan security forces. It has also hosted a global meet to attract investment in the insurgency-wracked country.

India’s ties with Iran, on the other hand, have been buffeted by India’s votes against Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme at the International Atomic Energy Agency. And Singh’s visit, the first since former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s in April 2001, is expected to place relations on an even keel.

“To ensure its long-term engagement with Afghanistan, it is imperative for India to work on its ties with Iran, which provides vital connectivity with Afghanistan through Chabahar, to sustain India’s presence there," Smruti Pattnaik, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, said in a recent article posted on the think tank’s website.

According to Mathai, trade ties between India and Iran were “strong", though the balance is skewed in favour of Tehran on an energy-starved New Delhi’s oil imports. Bilateral trade in 2011 was almost $16 billion, Mathai said.

On the political front, Singh will meet Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The discussions will centre on “all issues of importance and interest to us", Mathai said when asked if India would convey any message to Tehran on its controversial nuclear programme, given that Iran was an issue discussed during talks this week between Indian officials and the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice.

“We had indeed proposed to schedule a meeting with Khamenei. During the meeting, the Prime Minister will raise all issues for India-Iran bilateral relations and issues of interest and concern to us. Peace and security is, indeed, our primary concern, given how important the entire West Asia, the Gulf region in particular, is for India’s security and economy, both in terms of oil imports and our exports. So this is our own concern and we don’t have to take anybody else’s concerns," Mathai said.

The West, including the US, suspects Iran is developing nuclear weapons but the Iran government says its programme is for peaceful purposes. Countless rounds of talks between the two sides have not produced any results while Israel has been threatening pre-emptive strikes against Tehran.

Besides meeting Iranian leaders, Indian officials were trying to arrange meetings with the leaders of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt on the sidelines of the meet that groups together 120 nations. Formed in the 1960s, during the Cold War, the group aimed to steer clear of the US-led Western bloc and the then Soviet Union-led Eastern bloc.

India, which is one of the founding members of the movement, hoped to focus on issues that united the movement rather than divided it—on themes such as reforms in the UN and international financial institutions, Mathai said.

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Published: 26 Aug 2012, 11:53 PM IST
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