India and Afghanistan to launch air cargo services to boost trade

NEW DELHI: Air cargo services between India and Afghanistan will be launched soon, an Indian foreign ministry official said on Friday, as the two countries seek to reset ties amid soured relations with their common neighbour, Pakistan.

The announcement came during a visit to New Delhi by Afghanistan’s Taliban Trade Minister Nooruddin Azizi, who has urged India to boost trade and open cargo hubs as Kabul seeks access to grains, medicines and industrial goods following the closure of its border with Pakistan after military clashes.

Kabul’s air freight corridors with Delhi and the northern Indian city of Amritsar have been “activated”, and cargo flights will operate on the sectors “very soon”, said Anand Prakash, a joint secretary in the Indian foreign ministry.

“All formalities from our side are over. We are waiting for all the papers from their (Afghan) side … Once they complete them, the cargo flights will start,” Prakash told Reuters on the sidelines of an India-Afghanistan business conference.

Indian airlines do not fly to Afghanistan as Pakistan has shut its airspace for them, as tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad soared this year and led to their worst clashes in decades. Afghan carriers have regular passenger connections between Kabul and Delhi.

India and Afghanistan have historically had friendly relations, but New Delhi does not recognise the Taliban government, which came to power in Kabul after the withdrawal of U.S.-led NATO forces in 2021.

But they have moved quickly to recalibrate ties in recent months, which experts attribute to souring relations with Pakistan - a buffer between the two countries - and to India’s concerns about rival China making inroads in Afghanistan.

Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited New Delhi last month in the first such trip to India by a Taliban leader since 2021.

The two countries have upgraded ties since, with India reopening its embassy in Kabul that was shut in 2021.