Before Pak, Natwar will take detour to Kabul

Both countries would like to ask Pakistan to allow trade between India and Afghanistan via the Khyber pass.

In fact, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who visited India on December 9, 2004, had told the Manmohan Singh government that Washington would use its good offices to facilitate transit rights for Indian goods to Afghanistan.

Transit rights are a matter of concern to New Delhi as Indian goods get 30 per cent more costly when sent to Afghanistan through the Mumbai-Bunder Abbas (Iran) corridor. This has not only hit the Indian reconstruction effort in Afghanistan but it also prices Indian goods out of the Afghan market as they become too expensive in comparison with Chinese and Pakistani products. This also explains why Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran paid a visit to Khyber Pass during his trip to Pakistan last month.

Adding further significance to Singh’s trip is the fact that he will be the first Indian Cabinet Minister to visit Afghanistan since President Hamid Karzai was sworn in on December 8. Before him, the late National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit went to Kabul on October 19 while Minister of State (PMO) Prithviraj Chauhan was PM’s emissary at Karzai’s swearing-in.

Natwar Singh will also review the Indian Border Roads Organisation (BRO) effort to build the 218 km Zeranj (Iran)-Delaram (near Herat) road that links up with the Garland road network in Afghanistan and provides access to Central Asia via Mazar-e-Sharif. The BRO is also involved in building a road to Kandahar.

India is the sixth largest aid donor to Kabul with a commitment of $400 million. It is involved in providing education and health and building infrastructure for power and water.

Singh may also offer help in holding Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, which are scheduled to take place in May.