Thaw in ties with Kabul, flights from next week

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, June 11

In signs of thaw in ties, the Taliban have announced that they would soon resume flights to India, most likely from next week. On Saturday, the Taliban also permitted Dr Abdullah Abdullah, former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to return to Afghanistan from India.

Rahmatullah Agha, chief of Afghanistan’s flag carrier, Ariana Afghan Airlines, announced that it would soon resume flights to India, China and Kuwait, but the focus was on New Delhi. “Flights will soon start to India, where there are a lot of goods. A number of our passengers are there for treatment. Our flights to India, China and Kuwait will start soon,” he said.

Aid to Afghanistan

• India donated 20,000 tonne wheat, 13 tonne medicines, 5 lakh Covid vaccine doses
• Another 30,000 tonne wheat and life-saving medicines to be sent soon
• India also gifted 10 lakh vaccine doses to Tehran for Afghan refugees in Iran

The decision to resume flights to India and allow the return of Dr Abdullah Abdullah comes after the first visit of an Indian official delegation to Kabul on June 2, since the Taliban takeover, and their meetings with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Deputy Foreign Minister Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai. The move to resume trade ties with India has the backing of Afghan businessmen. “India’s market is a good opportunity for our agriculture sector. In Afghanistan, it is now the season of grapes, pomegranates, apricots, saffron and medicinal plants,” Afghan media quoted Afghanistan Chamber of Agriculture and Livestock (ACAL) member Mirwais Hajizada as saying.

Eyeing agri market

India’s market is a good opportunity for our agri sector. It is now the season of grapes, pomegranates, apricots, saffron and medicinal plants. —M Hajizada, AF Chamber of Agriculture & Livestock

But the situation in Afghanistan is more complicated. Dr Abdullah Abdullah’s return was also facilitated by the US Special Envoy Thomas West. On the other hand, there are tensions between the Taliban leadership and the EU whose special envoys on Afghanistan met in Brussels and expressed concern on the Taliban’s stringent policies on women and the “deteriorating human rights situation”. The EU-leaning Human Rights Watch has simultaneously accused the Taliban of war crimes in Panjshir and called for a travel ban on senior Taliban officials.

While the Indian team to Kabul on June 2-3 professed focus on humanitarian aspects and trade, NSA Ajit Doval had earlier said there was a need to enhance the capability of Afghanistan to counter terrorism and terrorist groups which pose a threat regional peace and security. The remarks came as a India-piloted report in the UNSC said there was presence of anti-India foreign terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Afghanistan.