New Delhi plans to send seven shipments of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar by the end of January. India is expanding its economic diplomacy in Afghanistan, seeing itself as a regional power. But Pakistan says India is trying to use Afghanistan as a base to destabilise Pakistan, and has long blocked India from conducting bilateral trade with Afghanistan using its territory as transit. GATEWAYIndia has framed its involvement in Chabahar's development as primarily about establishing a gateway to Afghanistan, more than Iran itself, Indian officials and a Western diplomatic source said. "They recognize that for India, Iran is more about a transport corridor to Afghanistan; that it has no interest in advancing Iran's agenda in the Middle East; and that whatever space India evacuates there will be filled by China."

Source: Economic Times November 06, 2017 16:23 UTC